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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2475.txt b/2475.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7efdbb --- /dev/null +++ b/2475.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7739 @@ +***Project Gutenberg Etext: The Circus Boys Across The Continent** +Or Making the Start in the Sawdust Life, by Edgar B. P. Darlington + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was prepared for Project Gutenberg by Greg Berckes + + + + + +The Circus Boys Across The Continent +Or +Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark + +by Edgar B. P. Darlington + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +CHAPTER + +I The Boys Hear Good News +II On The Road Once More +III Phil to Rescue +IV Renewing Old Acquaintances +V Doing a Man's Work +VI The Showman's Reward +VII Trying The Culprit +VIII Phil Makes a New Friend +IX The Mule Distinguishes Himself +X His First Bareback Lesson +XI Summoned Before The Manager +XII The Human Football +XIII Ducked by an Elephant +XIV In Dire Peril +XV Emperor to The Rescue +XVI An Unexpected Promotion +XVII The Circus Boys Win New Laurels +XVIII Doing a Double Somersault +XIX Marooned in a Freight Car +XX The Barnyard Circus +XXI When The Crash Came +XXII What Happened to a Pacemaker +XXIII Searching The Train +XXIV Conclusion + + + + + +The Circus Boys Across the Continent + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BOYS HEAR GOOD NEWS + +"You never can guess it--you never can guess the news, Teddy," +cried Phil Forrest, rushing into the gymnasium, his face flushed +with excitement. + +Teddy Tucker, clad in a pair of linen working trunks and a +ragged, sleeveless shirt, both garments much the worse for their +winter's wear, was lazily swinging a pair of Indian clubs. + +"What is it, some kind of riddle, Phil?" he questioned, bringing +the clubs down to his sides. + +"Do be serious for a minute, won't you?" + +"Me, serious? Why, I never cracked a smile. Isn't anything to +smile at. Besides, do you know, since I've been in the circus +business, every time I want to laugh I check myself so suddenly +that it hurts?" + +"How's that?" + +"Because I think I've still got my makeup on and that I'll crack +it if I laugh." + +"What, your face?" + +"My face? No! My makeup. By the time I remember that I haven't +any makeup on I've usually forgotten what it was I wanted to +laugh about. Then I don't laugh." + +Teddy shied an Indian club at a rat that was scurrying across the +far end of their gymnasium, missing him by half the width of +the building. + +"If you don't care, of course I shan't tell you. But it's good +news, Teddy. You would say so if you knew it." + +"What news? Haven't heard anything that sounds like news," +his eyes fixed on the hole into which the rat had disappeared. + +"You can't guess where we are going this summer?" + +"Going? Don't have to guess. I know," answered the lad with an +emphasizing nod. + +"Where do you think?" + +"We're going out with the Great Sparling Combined Shows, +of course. Didn't we sign out for the season before we closed +with the show last fall?" + +"Yes, yes; but where?" urged Phil, showing him the letter he +had just brought from the post office. "You couldn't guess if +you tried." + +"No. Never was a good guesser. That letter from Mr. Sparling?" +he questioned, as his eyes caught the familiar red and gold +heading used by the owner of the show. + +"Yes." + +"What's he want?" + +"You know I wrote to him asking that we be allowed to skip the +rehearsals before the show starts out, so that we could stay here +and take our school examinations?" + +Teddy nodded. + +"I'd rather join the show," he grumbled. + +"Never did see anything about school to go crazy over." + +"You'll thank me someday for keeping you at it," said Phil. +"See how well you have done this winter with your school work. +I'm proud of you. Why, Teddy, there are lots of the boys a long +way behind you. They can't say circus boys don't know anything +just because they perform in a circus ring." + +"H-m-m-m!" mused Teddy. "You haven't told me yet where we are +going this summer. What's the route?" + +"Mr. Sparling says that, as we are going to continue our +last year's acts this season, there will be no necessity +for rehearsals." + +The announcement did not appear to have filled Teddy Tucker +with joy. + +"We do the flying rings again, then?" + +"Yes. And we shall be able to give a performance that will +surprise Mr. Sparling. Our winter's practicing has done a lot +for us, as has our winter at school." + +"Oh, I don't know." + +"You probably will ride the educated mule again, while I expect +to ride the elephant Emperor in the grand entry, as I did before. +I'll be glad to get under the big top again, with the noise and +the people, the music of the band and all that. Won't you, +Teddy?" +questioned Phil, his eyes glowing at the picture he had drawn. + +Teddy heaved a deep sigh. + +"Quit it!" + +"Why?" + +" 'Cause you make me think I'm there now." + +Phil laughed softly. + +"I can see myself riding the educated mule this very minute, +kicking up the dust of the ring, making everybody get out of the +way, and--" + +"And falling off," laughed Phil. "You certainly are the +most finished artist in the show when it comes to getting +into trouble." + +"Yes; I seem to keep things going," grinned the lad. + +"But I haven't told you all that Mr. Sparling says in +the letter." + +"What else does he say?" + +"That the show is to start from its winter quarters, just outside +of Germantown, Pennsylvania, on April twenty-second--" + +"Let's see; just two weeks from today," nodded Teddy. + +"Yes." + +"I wish it was today." + +"He says we are to report on the twenty-first, as the show leaves +early in the evening." + +"Where do we show first?" + +"Atlantic City. Then we take in the Jersey Coast towns--" + +"Do we go to New York?" + +"New York? Oh, no! The show isn't big enough for New York quite +yet, even if it is a railroad show now. We've got to grow some +before that. Mighty few shows are large enough to warrant taking +them into the big city." + +"How do you know?" + +"All the show people say that." + +"Pshaw! I'd sure make a hit in New York with the mule." + +"Time enough for that later. You and I will yet perform in +Madison Square Garden. Just put that down on your route card, +Teddy Tucker." + +"Humph! If we don't break our necks before that! Where did you +say we were--" + +"After leaving New Jersey, we are to play through New York State, +taking in the big as well as the small towns, and from Buffalo +heading straight west. Mr. Sparling writes that we are going +across the continent." + +"What?" + +"Says he's going to make the Sparling Shows known from the +Atlantic to the Pacific--" + +"Across the continent!" exclaimed Teddy unbelievingly. +"No; you're fooling." + +"Yes; clear to the Pacific Coast. We're going to +San Francisco, too. What do you think of that, Teddy?" + +"Great! Wow! Whoop!" howled the boy, hurling his remaining +Indian Club far up among the rafters of the gymnasium, whence it +came clattering down, both lads laughing gleefully. + +"We're going to see the country this time, and we shan't have to +sleep out in an open canvas wagon, either." + +"Where shall we sleep?" + +"Probably in a car." + +"It won't be half so much fun," objected Teddy. + +"I imagine the life will be different. Perhaps we shall not have +so much fun, but we'll have the satisfaction of knowing that we +are part of a real show. It will mean a lot to us to be with an +organization like that. It will give us a better standing in the +profession, and possibly by another season we may be able to get +with one of the really big ones. Next spring, if we have good +luck, we shall have finished with our school here. If they'll +have us, we'll try to join out with one of them. In the meantime +we must work hard, Teddy, so we shall be in fine shape when we +join out two weeks from today. Come on; I'll wrestle you a +few falls." + +"Done," exclaimed Teddy. + +Phil promptly threw off his coat and vest. A few minutes later +the lads were struggling on the wrestling mat, their faces +dripping with perspiration, their supple young figures twisting +and turning as each struggled for the mastery of the other. + +The readers of the preceding volume in this series, entitled, +THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS, will recognize Phil and +Teddy +at once as the lads who had so unexpectedly joined the Sparling +Combined Shows the previous summer. It was Phil who, by his +ready resourcefulness, saved the life of the wife of the owner of +the show as well as that of an animal trainer later on. Then, +too, +it will be remembered how the lad became the fast friend of the +great elephant Emperor, which he rescued from "jail," and with +which he performed in the ring to the delight of thousands. +Ere the close of the season both boys had won their way to the +flying rings, thus becoming full-fledged circus performers. +Before leaving the show they had signed out for another season +at a liberal salary. + +With their savings, which amounted to a few hundred dollars, the +boys had returned to their home at Edmeston, there to put in the +winter at school. + +That they might lose nothing of their fine physical condition, +the Circus Boys had rented an old carpenter shop, which they +rigged up as a gymnasium, fitting it with flying rings, trapeze +bars and such other equipment as would serve to keep them in trim +for the coming season's work. + +Here Phil and Teddy had worked long hours after school. +During the winter they had gained marked improvement in +their work, besides developing some entirely new acts on +the flying rings. During this time they had been living with +Mrs. Cahill, who, it will be remembered, had proved herself a +real friend to the motherless boys. + +Now, the long-looked-for day was almost at hand when they should +once more join the canvas city for a life in the open. + +The next two weeks were busy ones for the lads, with their +practice and the hard study incident to approaching examinations. +Both boys passed with high standing. Books were put away, +gymnasium apparatus stored and one sunlit morning two slender, +manly looking young fellows, their faces reflecting perfect +health and happiness, were at the railroad station waiting for +the train which should bear them to the winter quarters of +the show. + +Fully half the town had gathered to see them off, for Edmeston +was justly proud of its Circus Boys. As the train finally drew +up and the lads clambered aboard, their school companions set up +a mighty shout, with three cheers for the Circus Boys. + +"Don't stick your head in the lion's mouth, Teddy!" was the +parting salute Phil and Teddy received from the boys as the train +drew out. + +"Well, Teddy, we're headed for the Golden Gate at last!" +glowed Phil. + +"You bet!" agreed Teddy with more force than elegance. + +"I wonder if old Emperor will remember me, Teddy?" + +"Sure thing! But, do you think that 'fool mule,' as Mr. Sparling +calls him, will remember me? Or will he want to kick me full of +holes before the season has really opened?" + +"I shouldn't place too much dependence on a mule," laughed Phil. +"Come on; let's go inside and sit down." + + + +CHAPTER II + +ON THE ROAD ONCE MORE + +All was bustle and excitement. + +Men were rushing here and there, shouting out hoarse commands. +Elephants were trumpeting shrilly, horses neighing; while, from +many a canvas-wrapped wagon savage beasts of the jungle were +emitting roar upon roar, all voicing their angry protest at being +removed from the winter quarters where they had been at rest for +the past six months. + +The Great Sparling Combined Shows were moving out for their long +summer's journey. The long trains were being rapidly loaded when +Phil Forrest and Teddy Tucker arrived on the scene late in +the afternoon. + +It was all new and strange to them, unused as they were to the +ways of a railroad show. Their baggage had been sent on ahead of +them, so they did not have that to bother with. Each carried a +suitcase, however, and the boys were now trying to find someone +in authority to ask where they should go and what they should do. + +"Hello, Phil, old boy!" howled a familiar voice. + +"Who's that?" demanded Teddy. + +"Why, it's Rod Palmer, our working mate on the rings!" cried +Phil, dropping his bag and darting across the tracks, where he +had espied a shock of very red hair that he knew could belong +only to Rodney Palmer. + +Teddy strolled over with rather more dignity. + +"Howdy?" he greeted just as Phil and the red-haired boy were +wringing each other's hands. "Anybody'd think you two were long +lost brothers." + +"We are, aren't we, Rod?" glowed Phil. + +"And we have been, ever since you boys showed me the brook where +I could wash my face back in that tank town where you two lived. +That was last summer. Seems like it was yesterday." + +"Yes, and we work together again, I hear? I'm glad of that. +I guess you've been doing something this winter," decided Rodney, +after a critical survey of the lads. "You sure are both in +fine condition. Quite a little lighter than you were last +season, aren't you, Phil?" + +"No; I weigh ten pounds more." + +"Then you must be mighty hard." + +"Hard as a keg of nails, but I hope not quite so stiff," +laughed Phil. + +"What you been working at?" + +"Rings, mostly. We've done some practicing on the trapeze. +What did you do all winter?" + +"Me? Oh, I joined a team that was playing vaudeville houses. +I was the second man in a ring act. Made good money and saved +most of it. Why didn't you join out for the vaudeville?" + +"We spent our winter at school," answered Phil. + +"That's a good stunt at that. In the tank town, I suppose?" +grinned the red-haired boy. + +"You might call it that, but it's a pretty good town, just the +same," replied Phil. "I saw many worse ones while we were out +last season." + +"And you'll see a lot more this season. Wait till we get to +playing some of those way-back western towns. I was out there +with a show once, and I know what I'm talking about. Where are +you berthed?" + +"I don't know," answered Phil. "Where are you?" + +"Car number fourteen. Haven't seen the old man, then?" + +"Mr. Sparling? No. And I want to see him at once. Where shall +I find him?" + +"He was here half an hour ago. Maybe he's in his office." + +"Where is that?" + +"Private car number one. Yes; the old man has his own elegant +car this season. He's living high, I tell you. No more sleeping +out in an old wagon that has no springs. It will be great to get +into a real bed every night, won't it?" + +Teddy shook his head doubtfully. + +"I don't know 'bout that." + +"I should think it would be pretty warm on a hot night," +nodded Phil. + +"And what about the rainy nights?" laughed Rodney. "Taking it +altogether, I guess I'll take the Pullman for mine--" + +"There goes Mr. Sparling now," interjected Teddy. + +"Where?" + +"Just climbing aboard a car. See him?" + +"That's number one," advised Rodney. "Better skip, if you want +to catch him. He's hard to land today. There's a lot for him to +look after." + +"Yes; come on, Teddy. Get your grip," said Phil, hurrying over +to where he had dropped his suitcase. + +"But it's going to be a great show," called Rodney. + +"Especially the flying-ring act," laughed Phil. + +A few minutes later both boys climbed aboard the private car, +and, leaving their bags on the platform, pushed open the door +and entered. + +Mr. Sparling was seated at a roll-top desk in an office-like +compartment, frowning over some document that he held in +his hand. + +The boys waited until he should look up. He did so suddenly, +peering at them from beneath his heavy eyebrows. Phil was not +sure, from the showman's expression, whether he had recognized +them or not. Mr. Sparling answered this question almost at once. + +"How are you, Forrest? Well, Tucker, I suppose you've come back +primed to put my whole show to the bad, eh?" + +"Maybe," answered Teddy carelessly. + +"Oh, maybe, eh? So that's the way the flag's blowing, is it? +Well, you let me catch you doing it and--stand up here, you two, +and let me look at you." + +He gazed long and searchingly at the Circus Boys, noting every +line of their slender, shapely figures. + +"You'll do," he growled. + +"Yes, sir," answered Phil, smiling. + +"Shake hands." + +Mr. Sparling thrust out both hands toward them with almost +disconcerting suddenness. + +"Ouch!" howled Teddy, writhing under the grip the showman gave +him, but if Phil got a pressure of equal force he made no sign. + +"Where's your baggage?" + +"We sent our trunks on yesterday. I presume they are here +somewhere, sir." + +"If they're not in your car, let me know." + +"If you will be good enough to tell me where our car is I will +find out at once." + +The showman consulted a typewritten list. + +"You are both in car number eleven. The porter will show you the +berths that have been assigned to you, and I hope you will both +obey the rules of the cars." + +"Oh, yes, sir," answered Phil. + +"I know you will, but I'm not so sure of your fat friend here. +I think it might be a good plan to tie him in his berth, or he'll +be falling off the platform some night, get under the wheels and +wreck the train." + +"I don't walk in my sleep," answered Teddy. + +"Oh, you don't?" + +"I don't." + +Mr. Sparling frowned; then his face broke out into a broad smile. + +"I always said you were hopeless. Run along, and get +settled now. You understand that you will keep your berth +all season, don't you?" + +"Yes, sir. What time do we go out?" + +"One section has already gone. The next and last will leave +tonight about ten o'clock. We want to make an early start, for +the labor is all green. It'll take three times as long to put up +the rag as usual." + +"The rag? What's the rag?" questioned Teddy. + +"Beg pardon," mocked Mr. Sparling. "I had forgotten that you are +still a Reuben. A rag is a tent, in show parlance." + +"Oh!" + +"Any orders after we get settled?" asked Phil. + +"Nothing for you to do till parade time tomorrow. You will look +to the same executives that you did last year. There has been no +change in them." + +The lads hurried from the private car, and after searching about +the railroad yard for fully half an hour they came upon car +number eleven. This was a bright, orange-colored car with the +name of the Sparling Shows painted in gilt letters near the roof, +just under the eaves. The smell of fresh paint was everywhere, +but the wagons being covered with canvas made it impossible for +them to see how the new wagons looked. There were many of these +loaded on flat cars, with which the railroad yard seemed to +be filled. + +"Looks bigger than Barnum & Bailey's," nodded Teddy, +feeling a growing pride that he was connected with so great +an organization. + +"Not quite, I guess," replied Phil, mounting the platform of +number eleven. + +The boys introduced themselves to the porter, who showed them +to their berths. These were much like those in the ordinary +sleeper, except that the upper berths had narrow windows looking +out from them. Across each berth was stretched a strong piece +of twine. + +Phil asked the porter what the string was for. + +"To hang your trousers on, sah," was the enlightening answer. +"There's hooks for the rest of your clothes just outside +the berths." + +"This looks pretty good to me," said Phil, peering out through +the screened window of his berth. + +"Reminds me of when I used to go to sleep in the woodbox behind +the stove where I lived last year in Edmeston," grumbled Teddy +in a muffled voice, as he rummaged about his berth trying to +accustom himself to it. Teddy never had ridden in a sleeping +car, so it was all new and strange to him. + +"Say, who sleeps upstairs?" he called to the porter. + +"The performers, sah--some of them. This heah is the performers' +car, sah." + +"How do they get up there? On a rope ladder?" + +Phil shouted. + +"You ninny, this isn't a circus performance. No; of course they +don't climb up on a rope ladder as if they were starting a +trapeze act." + +"How, then?" + +"The porter brings out a little step ladder, and it's just like +walking upstairs, only it isn't." + +"Huh!" grunted Teddy. "Do they have a net under them all night?" + +"A net? What for?" + +"Case they fall out of bed." + +"Put him out!" shouted several performers who were engaged in +settling themselves in their own quarters. "He's too new for +this outfit." + +Phil drew his companion aside and read him a lecture on not +asking so many questions, advising Teddy to keep his ears and +eyes open instead. + +Teddy grumbled and returned to the work of unpacking his bag. + +Inquiry for their trunks developed the fact that they would have +to look for these in the baggage car; that no trunks were allowed +in the sleepers. + +Everything about the car was new and fresh, the linen white and +clean, while the wash room, with its mahogany trimmings, plate +glass mirrors and upholstered seats, was quite the most elaborate +thing that Teddy had ever seen. + +He called to Phil to come and look at it. + +"Yes, it is very handsome. I am sure we shall get to be very +fond of our home on wheels before the season is ended. I'm going +out now to see if our trunks have arrived." + +Phil, after some hunting about, succeeded in finding the baggage +man of the train, from whom he learned that the trunks had +arrived and were packed away in the baggage car. + +By this time night had fallen. With it came even greater +confusion, while torches flared up here and there to light the +scene of bustle and excitement. + +It was all very confusing to Phil, and he was in constant fear of +being run down by switching engines that were shunting cars back +and forth as fast as they were loaded, rapidly making up the +circus train. The Circus Boy wondered if he ever could get used +to being with a railroad show. + +"I must be getting back or I shall not be able to find number +eleven," decided Phil finally. "I really haven't the least idea +where it is now." + +The huge canvas-covered wagons stood up in the air like a +procession of wraiths of the night, muttered growls and guttural +coughs issuing from their interiors. All this was disturbing to +one not used to it. + +Phil started on a run across the tracks in search of his car. + +In the meantime Teddy Tucker, finding himself alone, had +sauntered forth to watch the loading, and when he ventured abroad +trouble usually followed. + +The lad soon became so interested in the progress of the work +that he was excitedly shouting out orders to the men, offering +suggestions and criticisms of the way they were doing that work. + +Now, most of the men in the labor gang were new--that is, they +had not been with the Sparling show the previous season, and +hence did not know Teddy by sight. After a time they tired of +his running fire of comment. They had several times roughly +warned him to go on about his business. But Teddy did not heed +their advice, and likewise forgot all about that which Phil had +given him earlier in the evening. + +He kept right on telling the men how to load the circus, for, +if there was one thing in the world that Teddy Tucker loved more +than another it was to "boss" somebody. + +All at once the lad felt himself suddenly seized from behind and +lifted off his feet. At the same time a rough hand was clapped +over his mouth. + +The Circus Boy tried to utter a yell, but he found it impossible +for him to do so. Teddy kicked and fought so vigorously that it +was all his captor could do to hold him. + +"Come and help me. We'll fix the fresh kid this time," called +the fellow in whose grip the lad was struggling. + +"What's the matter, Larry? Is he too much for you?" laughed the +other man. + +"He's the biggest little man I ever got my fists on. Gimme a +hand here." + +"What are you going to do with him?" + +"I'll show you in a minute." + +"Maybe he's with the show. He's slippery enough to be +a performer." + +"No such thing. And I don't care if he is. I'll teach him not +to interfere with the men. Grab hold and help me carry him." + +Together they lifted the kicking, squirming, fighting boy, +carrying him on down the tracks, not putting him down until they +had reached the standpipe of a nearby water tank, where the +locomotives took on their supply of fresh water. + +"Jerk that spout around!" commanded Larry, sitting down on Tucker +with a force that made the lad gasp. + +"Can't reach the chain." + +"Then get a pike pole, and be quick about it. The foreman will +be looking for us first thing we know. If he finds us here he'll +fire us before we get started." + +"See here, Larry, what are you going to do?" demanded the +other suspiciously. + +"My eyes, but you're inquisitive! Going to wash the kid down. +Next time mebby he won't be so fresh." + +And "wash" they did. + +Suddenly the full stream from the standpipe spurted down. +Larry promptly let go of his captive. Teddy was right in the +path of the downpour, and the next instant he was struggling in +the flood. + +The showman dropped him and started to run. + +Teddy let out a choking howl, grasping frantically for his +tormentor. +A moment later the lad's hands closed over Larry's ankles, and +before +the man was able to free himself from the boy's grip Teddy had +pulled +him down and dragged him under the stream that was pouring down +in a +perfect deluge. The Circus Boy, being strong and muscular, was +able +to accomplish this with slight exertion. + +Larry's companion was making no effort to assist his fallen +comrade. +Instead, the fellow was howling with delight. + +No sooner, however, had Teddy raised the man and slammed him down +on his back under the spout, than the lad let go of his victim +and darted off into the shadows. Teddy realized that it was high +time he was leaving. + +The man, fuming with rage, uttering loud-voiced threats of +vengeance, scrambled out of the flood and began rushing up and +down the tracks in search of Teddy. + +But the boy was nowhere to be found. He had hastily climbed over +a fence, where he crouched, dripping wet, watching the antics of +the enraged Larry. + +"Guess he won't bother another boy right away," grinned Teddy, +not heeding his own wet and bedraggled condition. + +The two showmen finally gave up their quest, and all at once +started on a run in the opposite direction. + +"Now, I wonder what's made them run away like that? Surely they +aren't scared of me. I wonder? Guess I'll go over and +find out." + +Leaving his hiding place, the lad retraced his steps across the +tracks until finally, coming up with a man, who proved to be the +superintendent of the yard, Teddy asked him where sleeping car +number eleven was located. + +"Eleven? The sleepers have all gone, young man." + +"G-g-gone?" + +"Yes." + +"But I thought--" + +"Went out regular on the 9:30 express." + +Teddy groaned. Here he was, left behind before the show +had all gotten away from its winter quarters. But he noted +that the train bearing the cages and other equipment was still +in the yard. There was yet a chance for him. + +"Wha--what time does that train go?" he asked pointing to the +last section. + +"Going now. Why, what's the matter with you youngster? +The train is moving now." + +"Going? The matter is that I've got to go with them," cried the +lad, suddenly darting toward the moving train. + +"Come back here! Come back! Do you want to be killed?" + +"I've got to get on that train!" Teddy shouted back at +the superintendent. + +The great stock cars were rumbling by as the boy drew near the +track, going faster every moment. By the light of a switch lamp +Teddy could make out a ladder running up to the roof of one of +the box cars. + +He could hear the yard superintendent running toward +him shouting. + +"He'll have me, if I don't do something. Then I will be wholly +left," decided Teddy. "I'm going to try it." + +As the big stock car slipped past him the lad sprang up into the +air, his eyes fixed on the ladder. His circus training came in +handy here, for Teddy hit the mark unerringly, though it had been +considerably above his head. The next second his fingers closed +over a rung of the ladder, and there he hung, dangling in the +air, with the train now rushing over switches, rapidly gaining +momentum as it stretched out headed for the open country. + + + +CHAPTER III + +PHIL TO RESCUE + +Phil Forrest was in a panic of uneasiness. + +No sooner had his own section started than he made the discovery +that Teddy Tucker was not on board. Then the lad went through +the train in the hope that his companion had gotten on the +wrong car. There was no trace of Teddy. + +In the meantime Teddy had slowly clambered to the roof of the +stock car, where he stretched himself out, clinging to the +running board, with the big car swaying beneath him. The wind +seemed, up there, to be blowing a perfect gale, and it was all +the boy could do to hold on. After a while he saw a light +approaching him. The light was in the hands of a brakeman who +was working his way over the train toward the caboose. + +He soon came up to where Teddy was lying. There he stopped. + +"Well, youngster, what are you doing here?" he demanded, flashing +his light into the face of the uncomfortable Teddy. + +"Trying to ride." + +"I suppose you know you are breaking the law and that I'll have +to turn you over to a policeman or a constable the next town we +stop at?" + +"Nothing of the sort! What do you take me for? Think I'm some +kind of tramp?" objected the lad. "Go on and let me alone." + +The brakeman looked closer. He observed that the boy was soaking +wet, but that, despite this, he was well dressed. + +"What are you, if not a tramp?" + +"I'm with the show." + +The brakeman laughed long and loud, but Teddy was more interested +in the man's easy poise on the swaying car than in what he said. + +"Wish I could do that," muttered the lad admiringly. + +"What's that?" + +"Nothing, only I was thinking out loud." + +"Well, you'll get off at the next stop unless you can prove that +you belong here." + +"I won't," protested Teddy stubbornly. + +"We'll see about that. Come down here on the flat car behind +this one, and we'll find out. I see some of the show people +there. +Besides, you're liable to fall off here and get killed. Come +along." + +"I can't." + +"Why not?" + +"I'll fall off if I try to get up." + +"And you a showman?" laughed the brakeman satirically, at the +same time grabbing Teddy by the coat collar and jerking him to +his feet. + +The trainman did not appear to mind the giddy swaying of the +stock car. He permitted Teddy to walk on the running board while +he himself stepped carelessly along on the sloping roof of the +car, though not relaxing his grip on the collar of Teddy Tucker. + +Bidding the boy to hang to the brake wheel, the brakeman began +climbing down the end ladder, so as to catch Teddy in case he +were to fall. After him came the Circus Boy, cautiously picking +his way down the ladder. + +"Any of you fellows know this kid?" demanded the trainman, +flashing his lantern into Teddy's face. "He says he's with +the show." + +"Put him off!" howled one of the roustabouts who had been +sleeping on the flat car under a cage. "Never saw him before." + +"You sit down there, young man. Next stop, off you go," +announced the brakeman sternly. + +"I'll bet you I don't," retorted Teddy Tucker aggressively. + +"We'll see about that." + +"Quit your music; we want to go to sleep," growled a showman +surlily. + +The brakeman put down his lantern and seated himself on the side +of the flat car. He did not propose to leave the boy until he +had seen him safely off the train. + +"How'd you get wet?" questioned Tucker's captor. + +"Some fellows ducked me." + +The trainman roared, which once more aroused the ire of the +roustabouts who were trying to sleep. + +They had gone on for an hour, when finally the train slowed down. + +"Here's where you hit the ties," advised the brakeman, +peering ahead. + +"Where are we?" + +"McQueen's siding. We stop here to let an express by. And I +want to tell you that it won't be healthy for you if I catch you +on this train again. Now, get off!" + +Teddy making no move to obey, the railroad man gently but firmly +assisted him over the side of the car, dropping him down the +embankment by the side of the track. + +"I'll make you pay for this if I ever catch you again," +threatened Teddy from the bottom of the bank, as he scrambled to +his feet. + +Observing that the trainman was holding his light over the side +of the car and peering down at him, Teddy ran along on all fours +until he was out of sight of the brakeman, then he straightened +up and ran toward the rear of the train as fast as his feet would +carry him, while the railroad man began climbing over the cars +again, headed for the caboose at the rear. + +Teddy had gained the rear of the train by this time, but he did +not show himself just yet. He waited until the flagman had come +in, and until the fellow who had put him off had disappeared in +the caboose. + +At that, Teddy sprang up, and, swinging to the platform of the +caboose, quickly climbed the iron ladder that led to the roof of +the little boxlike car. He had no sooner flattened himself on +the roof than the train began to move again. + +Only one more stop was made during the night and that for water. +Just before daylight they rumbled into the yards at Atlantic +City, and Teddy scrambled from his unsteady perch, quickly +clambering down so as to be out of the way before the trainmen +should discover his presence. + +But quickly as he had acted, he had not been quick enough. +The trainman who had put him off down the line collared the lad +the minute his feet touched the platform of the caboose. + +"You here again?" he demanded sternly. + +Teddy grinned sheepishly. + +"I told you you couldn't put me off." + +"We'll see about that. Here, officer." He beckoned to a +policeman. +"This kid has been stealing a ride. I put him off once. I turn +him +over to you now." + +"All right. Young man, you come with me!" + +Teddy protested indignantly, but the officer, with a firm grip on +his arm, dragged the lad along with him. They proceeded on up +the tracks toward the station, the lad insisting that he was with +the show and that he had a right to ride wherever he pleased. + +"Teddy!" shouted a voice, just as they stepped on the long +platform that led down to the street. + +"Phil!" howled the lad. "Come and save me! A policeman's got me +and he's taking me to jail." + +Phil Forrest ran to them. + +"Here, here! What's this boy done?" he demanded. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RENEWING OLD ACQUAINTANCES + +"Well, Teddy, I must say you have made a good start," grinned +Phil, after necessary explanations had been made and the young +Circus Boy had been released by the policeman who had him +in tow." A few minutes more and you would have been in a +police station. I can imagine how pleased Mr. Sparling would +have been to hear that." + +Teddy hung his head. + +"Your clothes are a sight, too. How did--what happened? +Did you fall in a creek, or something of that sort?" + +The lad explained briefly how he had been captured by the two men +and ducked under the standpipe of the water tank. + +"But I soaked him, too," Tucker added triumphantly." And I'm +going to soak him again. The first man I come across whose name +is Larry is going to get it from me," threatened the lad, shaking +his fist angrily. + +"You come over to the sleeper with me and get into some decent +looking clothes. I'm ashamed of you, Teddy Tucker." + +"So am I," grinned the boy as they turned to go, Phil leading +the way to the car number eleven, from which the performers +were beginning to straggle, rubbing their eyes and +stretching themselves. + +The change of clothing having been made, the lads started for the +lot, hoping that they might find the old coffee stand and have a +cup before breakfast. To their surprise, upon arriving at the +lot, they found the cook tent up and the breakfast cooking. + +"Why, how did you ever get this tent here and up so quickly?" +asked Phil after they had greeted their old friend of the +cook tent. + +"Came in on the flying squadron. This is a railroad show now, +you know," answered the head steward, after greeting the boys. + +"Flying squadron? What's that?" demanded Teddy, interested +at once. + +"The flying squadron is the train that goes out first. +It carries the cook tent and other things that will be +needed first. We didn't have that last year. You'll find a lot +of new things, and some that you won't like as well as you did +when we had the old road show. What's your act this year?" + +"Same as last." + +"Elephant?" + +"Yes, and the rings. My friend Teddy I expect will ride the +educated mule again." + +While they were talking the steward was preparing a pot of +steaming coffee for them, which he soon handed over to the lads +with a plate of wafers, of which they disposed in short order. + +It was broad daylight by this time, and the boys decided to go +out and watch the erection of the tents. It was all new and full +of interest to them. As they caught the odor of trampled grass +and the smell of the canvas their old enthusiasm came back to +them with added force. + +"It's great to be a circus man, isn't it, Phil?" breathed Teddy. + +"It is unless one is getting into trouble all the time, the way +you do. I expect that, some of these days, you'll get something +you don't want." + +"What?" + +"Oh, I don't know. But I am sure it will be something +quite serious." + +"You better look out for yourself," growled Teddy. "I'll take +care of myself." + +"Yes; the way you did last night," retorted Phil, with a +hearty laugh. "Come on, now; let's not quarrel. I want to find +some of our old friends. Isn't that Mr. Miaco over there by the +dressing tent?" + +"Sure." + +Both lads ran toward their old friend, the head clown, with +outstretched hands, and Mr. Miaco, seeing them coming, hastened +forward to greet them. + +"Well, well, boys! How are you?" + +"Oh, we're fine," glowed Phil. "And we are glad to be back +again, let me tell you." + +"No more so than your old friends are to have you back. +Same old act?" + +"Yes." + +"What have you boys been doing this winter?" + +"Studying and exercising." + +"Yes; I knew, from your condition, that you have been keeping up +your work. Got anything new?" + +"Not much. Trapeze." + +"Good! I'll bet you will be in some of the flying-bar acts +before the season is over. We have a lot of swell performers +this season." + +"So I have heard. Who are some of them?" + +"Well, there's the Flying Four." + +"Who are they?" questioned Teddy. + +"Trapeze performers. They're great--the best in the business. +And then there's The Limit." + +"Talk United States," demanded Teddy. "The Limit? Whoever heard +of that?" + +"In other words, the Dip of Death." + +Teddy shook his head helplessly. + +"That is the somersaulting automobile. A pretty young woman +rides in it, and some fine day she won't. I never did like those +freak acts. But the public does," sighed the old circus man. +"The really difficult feats, that require years of practice, +patrons don't seem to give a rap for. But let somebody do a +stunt in which he is in danger of suddenly ending his life, then +you'll see the people howl with delight. I sometimes think they +would be half tickled to death to see some of us break our necks. +There's a friend of yours, Phil." + +"Who?" + +"Emperor, the old elephant that you rode last year. They are +taking him to the menagerie tent." + +"Whistle to him, Phil," suggested Teddy. + +Phil uttered a low, peculiar whistle. + +The big elephant's ears flapped. The procession that he was +leading came to a sudden stop and Emperor trumpeted shrilly. + +"He hasn't forgotten me," breathed Phil happily. "Dear old +Emperor!" + +"Pipe him up again," urged Teddy. + +"No; I wouldn't dare. He would be likely to break away from +Mr. Kennedy and might trample some of the people about here. +See, Mr. Kennedy is having his troubles as it is." + +"Done any tumbling since you closed last fall?" questioned +Mr. Miaco. + +"We have practiced a little. I want to learn, if you will +teach me--" + +"Why, you can tumble already, Phil." + +"Yes; but I want to do something better--the springboard." + +"They've got a leaping act this year." + +"How?" + +"Performers and clowns leap over a herd of elephants. +You've seen the act, haven't you?" + +"Oh, yes; I know what it is. I wish I were able to do it." + +"You will be. It is not difficult, only one has to have a +natural bent for it. Now, your friend Teddy ought to make a +fine leaper." + +"I am," interposed Teddy pompously. "I always was." + +"Yes; you're the whole show from your way of thinking," laughed +Mr. Miaco. "I must go see if my trunk is placed. See you +later, boys." + +After leaving the clown, the lads strolled about the lot. They +soon +discovered that the Sparling Shows was a big organization. The +tents +had been very much enlarged and the canvas looked new and white. + +In the menagerie tent the boys found many new cages, gorgeous in +red and gold, with a great variety of animals that had not been +in the show the previous summer. + +Emperor's delight at seeing his little friend again was expressed +in loud trumpetings, and his sinuous trunk quickly found its way +into Phil Forrest's pocket in search of sweets. And Emperor was +not disappointed. In one coat pocket he found a liberal supply +of candy, while the other held a bag of peanuts, to all of which +the big elephant helped himself freely until no more was left. + +"Have you got my trappings ready, Mr. Kennedy?" asked Phil +of the keeper. + +"You'll find the stuff in fine shape. The old man has had a new +bonnet made for Emperor and a new blanket. He'll be right smart +when he enters the ring today. Been over to the cook tent yet?" + +"Yes; but not for breakfast. We are going soon now. We want to +see them raise the big top first." + +When the boys had passed out into the open they observed the +big circus tent rising slowly from the ground where it had been +laid out, the various pieces laced together by nimble fingers. +Mr. Sparling was on the lot watching everything at the same time. +This was the first time the tent had been pitched, and, as has +been said before, most of the men were green at their work. +Yet, under the boisterous prodding of the boss canvasman, +the white city was going up rapidly and with some semblance +of system. + +As soon as the dome of the big top left the ground the boys +crawled under and went inside. Here all was excitement +and confusion. Men were shouting their commands, above which +the voice of the boss canvasman rose distinctly. + +The dome of the tent by this time was halfway up the long, green +center pole, while men were hurrying in with quarter poles on +their shoulders, and which they quickly stood on end and guided +into place in the bellying canvas. + +The eyes of the Circus Boys sparkled with enthusiasm. + +"I wish we were up there on the rings," breathed Teddy. + +"We shall be soon, old fellow," answered Phil, patting him on +the shoulder. "And for many days after this, I hope. Hello, I +wonder what's wrong up there?" + +Phil's quick glance had caught something up near the half-raised +dome that impressed him as not being right. + +"Look out aloft!" he sang out warningly. + +"The key rope's going. Grab the other line!" bellowed the +boss canvasman. + +"You fools!" roared Mr. Sparling from the opposite side +of the tent, as he quickly noted what was happening. "Run for +your lives! You'll have the whole outfit down on your heads!" + +The men fled, letting go of ropes and poles, diving for places of +safety, many of them knowing what it meant to have that big tent +collapse and descend upon them. + +The man who had held the key rope was the one who had been +at fault. Some of the new men had called to him to give them +a hand on another line, and he, a new man himself, all forgetful +of the important task that had been assigned to him, dropped the +key rope, as it is called, turning to assist his associate. + +Instantly the dome of the big top began to settle with a grating +noise as the huge iron ring in the peak began slipping down the +center pole. + +The key rope coiled on the ground was running out and squirming +up into the air. Only a single coil of it remained when Phil +suddenly darted forward. With a bound, he threw himself upon the +rope, giving it a quick twist about his arm. + +The instant Phil had fastened his grip upon the rope he shot up +into the air so quickly that the onlookers failed to catch the +meaning of his sudden flight. + +One pair of eyes, however, saw and understood. They belonged to +Mr. Sparling, the owner of the show. + +"The boy will he killed!" he groaned. "Let go!" + + + +CHAPTER V + +DOING A MAN'S WORK + +For one brief instant Phil Forrest's head was giddy and his +breath fairly left his body from the speed with which he was +propelled upward on the key rope. + +But the lad had not for a second lost his presence of mind. +Below him was some eight feet of the rope dangling in the air. + +With a sudden movement that could only have been executed by one +with unusual strength and agility, Phil let the rope slip through +his hands just enough to slacken his speed. Instantly he threw +himself around the center pole, twisting the rope around and +around it, each twist slackening his upward flight a little. +He knew that, were his head to strike the iron ring in the dome +at the speed he was traveling, he would undoubtedly be killed. +It was as much to prevent this as to save the tent that Phil took +the action he did, though his one real thought was to save his +employer's property. + +Now the rapid upward shoot had dwindled to a slow, gradual +slipping of the rope as it moved up the center pole inch by inch. +But Phil's peril was even greater than before. The moment that +heavy iron ring began pressing down on his head and shoulders +with the weight of the canvas behind it, there would be nothing +for him to do but to let go. + +A forty-foot fall to the hard ground below seemed inevitable. +Yet he did not lose his presence of mind for an instant. + +"Give him a hand!" yelled the boss canvasman. + +"How? How?" shouted the canvasmen. "We can't reach him." + +"Get a net under that boy, you blockheads!" thundered Mr. +Sparling, +rushing over from his station. "Don't you see he's bound to +fall, +and if he does he'll break his neck?" + +The boss canvasman ordered three of his men to get the trapeze +performers' big net that lay in a heap near the ring nearest the +dressing tent, for there were two rings now in the Great Sparling +Combined Shows. + +They dragged it over as quickly as possible; then willing hands +grabbed it and stretched the heavy net out. At Mr. Sparling's +direction the four corners of the net were manned and the +safety device raised from the ground, ready to catch the lad +should he fall. + +"Now let go and drop!" roared Mr. Sparling. + +They heard Phil laugh from his lofty perch. + +"Jump, I say!" + +"What, and let the tent down on you all?" + +By this time the lad had curled his feet up over his head, and +they saw that he was bracing his feet against the iron ring, +literally holding the tent up with his own powerful muscles. +Of course, as a matter of fact, Phil was holding a very small +part of the weight of the tent, but as it was, the strain +was terrific. + +Hanging head down, his face flushed until it seemed as if the +blood must burst through the skin, he hung there as calmly as if +he were not in imminent peril of his life. Then, too, there was +the danger to those below him. If the tent should collapse some +of them would be killed, for there were now few quarter poles in +place to break the fall of the heavy canvas. + +"I say, down there!" he cried, finally managing to make himself +heard above the uproar. + +"Are you going to drop?" shouted Mr. Sparling. + +"No; do you want me to let the tent drop on you? If you'll all +get out there'll be fewer hurt in case I have to let go." + +"That boy!" groaned the showman. + +"Toss me a line and be quick about it," called Phil shrilly. + +"What can you do with a line?" demanded the showman, now more +excited than he had ever been in his life. + +"Toss it!" + +"Give him a line!" + +"A strong one," warned Phil, his voice not nearly as far reaching +as it had been. + +"A line!" bellowed Mr. Sparling. "He knows what he wants it for, +and he's got more sense than the whole bunch of us." + +A coil of rope shot up. But it missed Phil by about six feet. + +Another one was forthcoming almost instantly. This time, +however, Mr. Sparling snatched it from the hands of the showman +who had made the wild cast. + +"Idiot!" he roared, pushing the man aside. + +Once more the coil sailed up, unrolling as it went. This time +Phil grasped it with his free hand, which he had liberated for +the purpose. + +"Now, be careful," warned Mr. Sparling. "I don't know what you +think you're going to do; but whatever you start you're sure +to finish." + +To this Phil made no reply. He was getting too weak to talk, and +his tired body trembled. + +In the end of the key rope a big loop had been formed, this +after the tent was up, was slipped over a cleat to prevent a +possibility of the rope slipping its fastenings and letting the +tent down. + +Phil had discovered the loop when it finally slipped up so his +one hand was pressed against the knot. + +Every second the weight on his feet--on his whole body, in fact, +was getting heavier. + +"If I can hold on a minute longer, I'll make it!" he muttered, +his breath coming in short, quick gasps. + +What he was seeking to do was to get the rope they had tossed to +him, through the big loop. In his effort to do so, the coil +slipped from his hands, knocking a canvasman down as it fell, +but the lad had held to the other end with a desperate grip. + +Now he began working it through the loop inch by inch. It was +a slow process, but he was succeeding even better than he +had hoped. + +Mr. Sparling now saw what Phil's purpose was. About the same +time the others down there made the same discovery. + +They set up a cheer of approval. + +"Wait!" commanded the owner of the show. "The lad isn't out of +the woods yet. You men on the net look lively there. If you +don't catch him should he fall, you take my word for it, it'll go +mighty hard with you." + +"We'll catch him." + +"You'd better, if you know what's good for you. Goodness, but +he's got the strength and the grit! I never saw anything like it +in all my circus experience." + +They could not help him. There was no way by which any of them +could reach Phil, and all they could do was to stand by and do +the best they could at breaking his fall should he be forced to +let go, as it seemed that he must do soon. + +Nearer and nearer crept the line toward the ground, but it was +yet far above their heads. It was moving faster, however, as +Phil got more weight of rope through the loop, thus requiring +less effort on his part to send it along on its journey. + +"Side pole! Side pole!" shouted the boy, barely making himself +heard above the shouts below. + +At first they did not catch the meaning of his words. +Mr. Sparling, of course, was the first to do so. + +"That's it! Oh, you idiots! You wooden Indians! You thick +heads! +Get a side pole, don't you understand?" and the owner made a dive +at the nearest man to him, whereat the fellow quickly +side-stepped +and started off on a run for the pole for which Phil had asked. +But, even then, some of the hands did not understand what he +could want of a side pole. + +The instant it was brought Mr. Sparling snatched it from the +hands of the tentman. Raising the pole, assisted by the boss +canvasman, he was able to reach the loop. The iron spike in the +end of the pole was thrust through the loop, and by exerting +considerable pressure they were able to force the loop slowly +toward the ground. + +"You'll have to hurry! I can't hang on much longer," cried +Phil weakly. + +"We'll hurry, my lad. It won't be half a minute now," encouraged +Mr. Sparling. "Stand by here you blockheads, ready to fall on +that rope the minute it gets within reach. Three of you grab +hold of the coil end and pay it out gradually. Be careful. +Watch your business." + +Three men sprang to do his bidding. + +"Here comes the loop!" + +Ready hands grasped the dangling rope. + +The two strands were quickly carried together and the weight of a +dozen men thrown on them, instantly relieving the strain on Phil +Forrest's body. + +Phil had saved the big top, and perhaps a few lives at the +same time. Now a sudden dizziness seemed to have overtaken him. +Everything appeared to be whirling about him, the big top +spinning like a giant top before his eyes. + +"Slide down the rope!" commanded Mr. Sparling. + +The lad slowly unwound the rope from his arm and feebly motioned +to them that they were to walk around the pole with their end so +they might hoist the iron ring to the splice of the center pole. + +"Never mind anything but yourself!" ordered Mr. Sparling. +"We'll attend to this mix-up ourselves." + +Very cautiously and deliberately, more from force of habit +than otherwise, the lad had let his feet down, and with them +was groping for the rope. + +"Swing the line between his legs!" roared the owner. "Going to +let him stay up there all day?" + +"That's what we're trying to do," answered a tentman. + +"Yes, I see you trying. That's the trouble with you fellows. +You always think you're trying, and if you are, you never +accomplish anything. Got, it, Phil?" + +"Y--ye--yes." + +Twisting his legs about the rope the boy next took a weak grip on +it with both hands, then started slowly to descend. This he knew +how to do, so the feat was attended with no difficulty other than +the strength required, and of which he had none to spare just at +the present moment. + +"Look out!" he called. He thought he had shouted it in a +loud tone. As a matter of fact no sound issued from his lips. + +But Mr. Sparling whose eyes had been fixed upon the boy, +saw and understood. + +"He's falling. Catch him!" + +Phil shot downward head first. Yet with the instinct of the +showman he curled his head up ever so little as he half +consciously felt himself going. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SHOWMAN'S REWARD + +Phil struck the net with a violent slap that was heard outside +the big top, though those without did not understand the meaning +of it, nor did they give it heed. + +Mr. Sparling was the first to reach him. The lad had landed on +his shoulders and then struck flat on his back, the proper way +to fall into a net. Perhaps it was instinct that told him what +to do. + +The lad was unconscious when the showman lifted him tenderly from +the net and laid him out on the ground. + +"Up with that peak!" commanded Mr. Sparling. "Get some water +here, +and don't crowd around him! Give the boy air! Tucker, you hike +for the surgeon." + +A shove started Teddy for the surgeon. In the meantime +Mr. Sparling was working over Phil, seeking to bring him back +to consciousness, which he finally succeeded in doing before +the surgeon arrived. + +"Did I fall?" asked Phil, suddenly opening his eyes. + +"A high dive," nodded Mr. Sparling. + +Phil cast his eyes up to the dome where he saw the canvas +drawing taut. He knew that he had succeeded and he +smiled contentedly. + +By the time the surgeon arrived the boy was on his feet. + +"How do you feel?" + +"I'm a little sore, Mr. Sparling. But I guess I'll be fit in a +few minutes." + +"Able to walk over to my tent? If not, I'll have some of the +fellows carry you." + +"Oh, no; I can walk if I can get my legs started moving. +They don't seem to be working the way they should this morning," +laughed the lad. "My, that tent weighs something doesn't it?" + +"It does," agreed the showman. + +Just then the surgeon arrived. After a brief examination he +announced that Phil was not injured, unless, perhaps, he might +have injured himself internally by subjecting himself to the +great strain of holding up the tent. + +"I think some breakfast will put me right again," decided +the lad. + +"Haven't you had your breakfast yet?" demanded Mr. Sparling. + +"No; I guess I've been too busy." + +"Come with me, then. I haven't had mine either," said +the showman. + +Linking his arm within that of the Circus Boy, Mr. Sparling +walked from the tent, not speaking again until they had reached +the manager's private tent. This was a larger and much more +commodious affair than it had been last year. + +He placed Phil in a folding easy chair, and sat down to his desk +where he began writing. + +After finishing, Mr. Sparling looked up. + +"Phil," he said in a more kindly tone than the lad had ever +before heard him use, "I was under a deep obligation to you +last season. I'm under a greater one now." + +"I wish you wouldn't speak of it, sir. What I have done is +purely in the line of duty. It's a fellow's business to be +looking out for his employer's interests. That's what I have +always tried to do." + +"Not only tried, but have," corrected Mr. Sparling. "That's an +old-fashioned idea of yours. It's a pity young men don't feel +more that way, these days. But that wasn't what I wanted to say. +As a little expression of how much I appreciate your interest, +as well as the actual money loss you have saved me, I want to +make you a little present." + +"Oh, no no," protested Phil. + +"Here is a check which I have made out for a hundred dollars. +That will give you a little start on the season. But it isn't +all that I am going to do for you--" + +"Please, Mr. Sparling. Believe me I do appreciate your kindness, +but I mustn't take the check. I couldn't take the check." + +"Why not?" + +"Because I haven't earned it." + +"Haven't earned it? He hasn't earned it!" + +"No, sir." + +The showman threw his hands above his head in a hopeless sort of +a way. + +"I should not feel that I was doing right. I want to be +independent, Mr. Sparling. I have plenty of money. I have +not spent more than half of what I earned last summer. +This season I hope to lay by a whole lot, so that I shall be +quite independent." + +"And so you shall, so you shall, my boy," Sparling exclaimed, +rising and smiting Phil good naturedly with the flat of his hand. + +Instead of tearing up the check, however, Mr. Sparling put it in +an envelope which he directed and stamped, then thrust in his +coat pocket. + +"I--I hope you understand--hope you do not feel offended," +said Phil hesitatingly. "I should not like to have you +misunderstand me." + +"Not a bit of it, my lad. I can't say that I have any higher +opinion of you because of your decision, but--" + +Phil glanced up quickly. + +"I already have as high an opinion of you as it is possible for +me to have for any human being, and--" + +"Thank you. You'll make me have a swelled head if you keep on +that way," laughed Phil. + +"No danger. You would have had one long ago, if that was +your makeup. Have you seen Mrs. Sparling yet?" + +"No, and I should like to. May I call on her in your car?" + +"Not only may, but she has commissioned me to ask you to. +I think we had better be moving over to the cook tent, now, +if we wish any breakfast. I expect the hungry roustabouts +have about cleaned the place out by this time." + +They soon arrived at the cook tent. Here Phil left Mr. Sparling +while he passed about among the tables, greeting such of his old +acquaintances as he had not yet seen that morning. He was +introduced to many of the new ones, all of whom had heard pretty +much everything about Phil's past achievements before he reached +their tables. The people of a circus are much like a big family, +and everyone knows, or thinks he knows, the whole family history +of his associates. + +Even Phil's plucky work in the big top, less than an hour before, +had already traveled to the cook tent, and many curious glances +were directed to the slim, modest, boy as he passed among his +friends quietly, giving them his greetings. + +Teddy, on the other hand, was not saying a word. He was +busy eating. + +"How's your appetite this morning, Teddy?" questioned Phil, +sinking down on the bench beside his companion. + +"Pretty fair," answered Teddy in a muffled voice. "I began at +the top--" + +"Top of what?" + +"Top of the bill of fare. I've cleaned up everything halfway +down the list, and I'm going through the whole bill, even if I +have to get up and shake myself down like the miller does a bag +of meal." + +"Be careful, old chap. Remember you and I have to begin our real +work today. We shall want to be in the best of shape for our +ring act. You won't, if you fill up as you are doing now," +warned Phil. + +"Not going to work today." + +"What's that?" + +"No flying rings today." + +"I don't understand." + +"No flying rings, I said. Mr. Sparling isn't going to put on our +act today." + +"How do you know?" asked Phil in some surprise. + +"Heard him say so." + +"When?" + +"Just now." + +"Why, I came in with him myself less than ten minutes ago--" + +"I know. He stopped right in front of my table here to speak to +the ringmaster. Heard him say you were not to be allowed to go +on till tomorrow. We don't have to go in the parade today if we +don't want to, either. But you are to ride Emperor in the +Grand Entry, and I'm to do my stunt on the educated mule." + +"Pshaw, I can work today as well as I ever could," said Phil in a +disappointed tone. "And I'm going on, too, unless Mr. Sparling +gives me distinct orders to the contrary." + +Phil got the orders before he had finished his breakfast. + +"Believe me, Phil, I know best," said Mr. Sparling, noting the +lad's disappointment. "You have had a pretty severe strain this +morning, and to go on now with the excitement of the first day +added to that, I fear might be too much for you. It might lay +you up for some weeks, and we cannot afford to have that happen, +you know. I need you altogether too much for that." + +"Very well, sir; it shall be as you wish. I suppose I may go on +in the Grand Entry as usual?" + +"Oh, yes, if you wish." + +"I do." + +"Very well; then I'll let Mr. Kennedy know. You had better lie +down and rest while the parade is out." + +"Thank you; I hardly think that will be necessary. I feel fit +enough for work right now." + +"Such is youth and enthusiasm," mused the showman, passing on out +of the cook tent, once more to go over his arrangements, for +there were many details to be looked after on this the first day +of the show's season on the road. + +Phil called on Mrs. Sparling after breakfast, receiving from the +showman's wife a most hospitable welcome. She asked him all +about how he had spent the winter, and seemed particularly +interested in Mrs. Cahill, who was now the legal guardian of +both the boys. Mrs. Sparling already had a letter in her pocket, +with the check for one hundred dollars which the showman had +drawn for Phil. It was going to Mrs. Cahill to be deposited to +the lad's credit, but he would know nothing of this until the +close of the season. After he had gone home he would find +himself a hundred dollars richer than he thought. + +His call finished, Phil went out and rejoined Teddy. Together +they +started back toward the dressing tent to set their trunks in +order +and get out such of their costumes as they would need that +afternoon and evening. Then again, the dressing tent was really +the most attractive part of the show to all the performers. It +was +here that they talked of their work and life, occasionally +practiced +new acts of a minor character, and indulged in pranks like a lot +of +schoolboys at recess time. + +As they were passing down along the outside of the big top, +Phil noticed several laborers belonging to the show sitting +against the side wall sunning themselves. He observed that one +of the men was eyeing Teddy and himself with rather more than +ordinary interest. + +Phil did not give it a second thought, however, until suddenly +Teddy gave his arm a violent pinch. + +"What is it?" + +"See those fellows sitting there?" + +"Yes. What of it?" + +"One of them is the fellow who ducked me under the water tank +back at Germantown." + +"You don't say? Which one?" + +"Fellow with the red hair. I heard them call him Larry as I +passed, or I might not have noticed him particularly. His hair +is redder than Rod Palmer's. I should think it would set him +on fire." + +"It certainly would seem so." + +"Mister Larry has got something coming to him good and proper, +and he's going to get it, you take my word for that." + +Phil laughed good naturedly. + +"Please, now, Teddy, forget it. Don't go and get into any +more mix-ups. You'll be sending yourself back home first thing +you know. Then it will be a difficult matter to get into any +other show if you are sent away from this one in disgrace." + +"Don't you worry about me. I'll take care of myself. I always +do, don't I?" + +"I'm afraid I can't agree to that," laughed Phil. "I should say +that quite the contrary is the case." + +Teddy fell suddenly silent as they walked on in the bright +morning light, drinking in the balmy air in long-drawn breaths. +Entering the paddock they turned sharply to the left and pushed +their way through the canvas curtains into the dressing tent. + +"Hurrah for the Circus Boys," shouted someone. "Hello Samson, +are you the strong-armed man that held the tent up by your feet?" + +"Strong-footed man, you mean," suggested another. "A +strong-armed +man uses his arms not his feet." + +"Come over here and show yourself," shouted another voice. + +Phil walked over and stood smilingly before them. Nothing seemed +to disturb his persistent good nature. + +"Huh, not so much! I guess they stretched that yarn," grunted +a new performer. + +"I guess not," interposed Mr. Miaco. "I happened to see that +stunt pulled off myself. It was the biggest thing I ever saw +a man--let alone a boy--get away with." Then Mr. Miaco went over +the scene with great detail, while Phil stole away to his own +corner, where he busied himself bending over his trunk to hide +his blushes. + +But Teddy felt no such emotion. Almost as soon as he entered the +dressing tent he began searching about for something. This he +soon found. It was a pail, but he appeared to be in a hurry. +Picking up the pail he ran with it to the water barrel, that +always stands in the dressing tent, filled the pail and skulked +out as if he did not desire to attract attention. + +Once outside the dressing tent Teddy ran at full speed across the +paddock and out into the big top. A few men were working here +putting up apparatus for the performers. They gave no heed to +the boy with the pail of water. + +Teddy ran his eye along the inside of the tent, nodded and went +on to the middle section where he turned, climbing the steps to +the upper row. + +Arriving there he cautiously peered out over the top of the +side wall. What he saw evidently was not to his liking, for once +more he picked up the pail of water and ran lightly along the top +seat toward the menagerie tent. + +All at once he paused, put down his pail and peered out over the +side wall again. Nodding with satisfaction he picked up the +pail, lifted it to the top of the side wall, once more looked out +measuring the distance well, then suddenly turned the pail bottom +side up. + +In his course through the big top Teddy had gathered up several +handfuls of sawdust and dirt which he had stirred well into the +water as he ran, making a pasty mess of it. + +It was this mixture that he had now poured out over the +side wall. Teddy waited only an instant to observe the effect +of the deluge that he had turned on. Then he fled down the +rattling board seats. + +Outside a sudden roar broke the stillness. No sooner had he +reached the bottom of the seats than several men raised up the +side wall and came tumbling in, yelling like Comanche Indians. +Teddy cast one frightened look at them, then ran like +all possessed. What he had seen was a red-haired man in the +lead, dripping wet with hair and clothes plastered with mud +and sawdust. Larry was after the lad in full cry. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TRYING THE CULPRIT + +"Stop him!" howled Larry, as he, followed by half a dozen +blue-shirted fellows, bolted into the arena in pursuit of the lad +who had emptied the pail of muddy water over him. + +Teddy, still clinging to the pail, was sprinting down the +concourse as if his very life depended upon it. A canvasman, +hearing Larry's call, and suspecting the boy was wanted for +something quite serious, rushed out, heading Teddy off. +It looked as if the lad were to be captured right here. + +But Teddy Tucker was not yet at the end of his resources. He ran +straight on as if he had not observed the canvasman. Just as he +reached the man, and the latter's hands were stretched out to +intercept him, Teddy hurled the pail full in the fellow's face. +Then the lad darted to one side and fled toward the paddock. + +The canvasman had joined the procession by this time. Into the +dressing tent burst the boy, followed by Larry, the others having +brought up sharply just before reaching the dressing room, +knowing full well that they had no business there and that +their presence would be quickly and effectively resented. +Larry, consumed with rage, did not stop to think about this, +so he dashed on blindly to his fate. + +At first the circus performers in the dressing tent could not +imagine what was going on. Clotheslines came down, properties +were upset and in a moment the tent was in confusion. + +"Stop that!" bellowed an irate performer. + +Larry gave no heed to the command, and Teddy was in too big a +hurry to stop to explain. + +Suddenly Phil Forrest, realizing that his little companion was in +danger, gave a leap. He landed on Larry's back, pinioning the +fellow's arms to his sides. + +"You stop that now! You let him alone!" commanded Phil. + +Before the canvasman could make an effort to free himself, +Mr. Miaco, the head clown, took a hand in the proceedings. +Throwing Phil from the tentman, Miaco jerked Larry about, +and demanded to know what he meant by intruding on the privacy +of the dressing tent in that manner. + +"I want that kid," he growled. + +"Put him out!" howled a voice. + +"What do you want him for?" + +"He--he dumped a pail of water over me. I'll get even with him. +I'll--" + +"How about this, Master Teddy?" questioned Mr. Miaco. + +Teddy explained briefly how the fellow Larry and a companion +had ducked him under the water tank, and had ruined his clothes, +together with causing him to miss his train. + +"This demands investigation," decided Mr. Miaco gravely. +"Fellows, it is evident that we had better try this man. +That is the best way to dispose of his case." + +"Yes, yes; try him!" they shouted. + +"Whom shall we have for judge?" + +"Oscar, the midget!" + +The Smallest Man on Earth was quickly boosted to the top of a +property box. + +"Vot iss?" questioned the midget, his wizened, yellow little face +wrinkling into a questioning smile. + +"We are going to try this fellow, Larry, and you are to be +the judge." + +"Yah," agreed Oscar, after which he subsided, listening to the +proceedings that followed, with grave, expressionless eyes. +It is doubtful if Oscar understood what it was all about, but his +gravity and judicial manner sent the whole dressing tent into an +uproar of merriment. + +After the evidence was all in, the entire company taking part in +testifying, amid much merriment--for the performers entered into +the spirit of the trial like a lot of schoolboys--Oscar was asked +to decide what should be done with the prisoner Larry. + +Oscar was at a loss to know how to answer. + +"Duck him," suggested one. + +This was an inspiration to Oscar. He smiled broadly. + +"Yah, dat iss." + +"What iss?" demanded the Tallest Man On Earth. "Talk +United States." + +"Yah," agreed Oscar, smiling seraphically. "Duck um." + +"Larry, it is the verdict of this court that you be ducked, +as the only fitting punishment for one who has committed the +crime of laying hands on a Circus Boy. Are we all agreed on the +punishment meted out by the dignified judge?" + +"Yes, yes!" they shouted. "The rain barrel for him." + +"Men, do your duty!" cried Mr. Miaco. + +"I wouldn't do that," interposed Phil. "You haven't any more +right to duck him than he had to put Teddy under the water tank. +It isn't right." + +But they gave no heed to his protests. Willing hands +grabbed the red-headed tentman, whose kicks and struggles +availed him nothing. Raising him over the barrel of water +they soused him in head first, ducking him again and again. + +"Take him out. You'll drown him," begged Phil. + +Then they hauled Larry out, shaking the water out of him. +As soon as his coughing ceased, he threatened dire vengeance +against his assailants. + +Four performers then carried their victim to the opening of the +dressing tent and threw him out bodily. + +Instantly Larry's companions saw him fall at their feet, and +heard his angry explanation of the indignities that had been +heaped upon him. There was a lively scrambling over the ground, +and the next instant a volley of stones was hurled into the +dressing tent. + +Phil was just coming out on his way to the main entrance as the +row began. A stone just grazed his cheek. Without giving the +least heed to the assailants, he turned to cross the paddock in +order to slip out under the tent and go on about his business. +Most lads would have run under the circumstances. Not so Phil. +His were steady nerves. + +"There he is! Grab him!" shouted Larry, catching sight of Phil +and charging that Phil had been one of those who had helped +duck him. + +Such was not the case, however, for instead of having taken part +in the ducking, Phil Forrest had tried to prevent it. + +Larry and another man were running toward him. The lad halted, +turned and faced them. + +"What do you want of me?" he demanded. + +"I'll show you what I want of you. You started this row." + +"I did nothing of the sort, sir. You go on about your business +and I shall do the same, whether you do or not." + +Phil raised the canvas and stepped out. But no sooner had he +gotten out into the lot than the two men burst through the +flapping side wall. + +The boy saw them coming and knew that he was face to face +with trouble. + +He adopted a ruse, knowing full well that he could not hope +to cope with the brawny canvasmen single handed and alone. +Starting off on a run, Phil was followed instantly, as he felt +sure he would be, but managing to keep just ahead of the men and +no more. + +"I've got you!" + +The voice was almost at his ear. + +Phil halted with unexpected suddenness and dropped on all fours. + +The canvasman was too close to check his own speed. He fell over +Phil, landing on his head and shoulders in the dirt. + +The lad was up like a flash. Larry was close upon him now, and +with a snarl of rage launched a blow full at Phil Forrest's face. +But he had not reckoned on the lad's agility, nor did he know +that Phil was a trained athlete. Therefore, Larry's surprise was +great when his fist beat the empty air. + +Thrown off his balance, Larry measured his length on the ground. + +"I advise you to let me alone," warned Phil coolly, as the +tentman was scrambling to his feet. Already Larry's companion +had gotten up and was gazing at Phil in a half dazed sort of way. + +"Get hold of him, Bad Eye! What are you standing there like a +dummy for? He'll run in a minute." + +Phil's better judgment told him to do that very thing, but he +could not bring himself to run from danger. Much as he disliked +a row, he was too plucky and courageous to run from danger. + +Bad Eye was rushing at him, his eyes blazing with anger. + +Phil side-stepped easily, avoiding his antagonist without the +least difficulty. But now he had to reckon with Larry, who, +by this time, had gotten to his feet. + +It was two to one. + +"Stand back unless you want to get hurt!" cried Phil, with a +warning glint in his eyes. + +Larry, by way of answer, struck viciously at him. Phil, with a +glance about him, saw that he could not expect help, for there +was no one in sight, the performers being engaged at that moment +in driving off the angry laborers, which they were succeeding in +doing with no great effort on their part. + +The lad cleverly dodged the blow. But instead of backing away +as the canvasman's fist barely grazed his cheek, Phil, with a +short arm jolt, caught his adversary on the point of his chin. +Larry instantly lost all desire for fight. He sat down on the +hard ground with a bump. + +Now Bad Eye rushed in. Again Phil sidestepped, and, thrusting a +foot between the fellow's legs, tripped him neatly. + +Half a dozen men came running from the paddock. They were the +fellows whom the performers had put to rout. At that moment the +bugle blew for all hands to prepare for the parade. + +"I guess I have done about enough for one day," decided Phil. +"And for a sick man it wasn't a half bad job." + +With an amused glance at his fallen adversaries Phil ran to the +big top, less than a rod away, and, lifting the sidewall, slipped +under and disappeared within. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PHIL MAKES A NEW FRIEND + +"Tweetle! Tweetle!" + +Two rippling blasts from the ringmaster's whistle notified the +show people that the performance was on. In moved the procession +for the Grand Entry, as the silken curtains separating the +paddock from the big top slowly fell apart. + +Phil, from his lofty perch on the head of old Emperor, peering +through the opening of the bonnet in which he was concealed, +could not repress an exclamation of admiration. It was a +splendid spectacle--taken from a story of ancient Rome-- +that was sweeping majestically about the arena to the music +of an inspiring tune into which the big circus band had +suddenly launched. + +Gayly-caparisoned, nervous horses pranced and reared; huge +wagons, gorgeous under their coat of paint and gold, glistened +in the afternoon sunlight that fell softly through the canvas top +and gave the peculiar rattling sound so familiar to the lover of +the circus as they moved majestically into the arena; elephants +trumpeted shrilly and the animals back in the menagerie tent sent +up a deafening roar of protest. After months of quiet in their +winter quarters, this unusual noise and excitement threw the wild +beasts into a tempest of anger. Pacing their cages with upraised +heads, they hurled their loud-voiced protests into the air until +the more timid of the spectators trembled in their seats. + +It was an inspiring moment for the circus people, as well as for +the spectators. + +"Tweetle! Tweetle!" sang the ringmaster's whistle after the +spectacle had wound its way once around the concourse. + +At this the procession wheeled, its head cutting between the +two rings, slowly and majestically reaching for the paddock +and dressing tent, where the performers would hurry into their +costumes for their various acts to follow. + +This left only the elephants in the ring. The huge beasts now +began their evolutions, ponderous but graceful, eliciting great +applause, as did their trainer, Mr. Kennedy. Then came the +round-off of the act. This, it will be remembered, was of Phil +Forrest's own invention, the act in which Phil, secreted in the +elephant's bonnet, burst out at the close of the act, and, by the +aid of wires running over a pulley above him, was able to descend +gracefully to the sawdust arena. + +He was just a little nervous in this, the first performance of +the season, but, steadying his nerves, he went through the act +without a hitch and amid thunders of applause. As in the +previous season's act, old Emperor carried the lad from the ring, +holding Phil out in front of him firmly clasped in his trunk. +No similar act ever had been seen in a circus until Phil and +Emperor worked it out for themselves. It had become one of the +features of the show last year, and it bade fair to be equally +popular that season. Phil had added to it somewhat, which gave +the act much more finish than before. + +"Very good, young man," approved Mr. Sparling, as the elephant +bore the lad out. Mr. Sparling was watching the show with keen +eyes in order to decide what necessary changes were to be made. +"Coming back to watch the performance?" + +"Oh, yes. I wouldn't miss that for anything." + +As soon as the lad had thrown off his costume and gotten back +into his clothes, he hurried into the big top, where he found +Teddy, who did not go on in his bucking mule act until later. + +"How's the show, Teddy?" greeted Phil. + +"Great. Greatest thing I ever saw. Did you see the fellows jump +over the herd of elephants and horses?" + +"No. Who were they?" + +"Oh, most all of the crowd, I guess. I'm going to do that." + +"You, Teddy? Why, you couldn't jump over half a dozen +elephants and turn a somersault. You would break your neck the +first thing." + +"Mr. Miaco says I could. Says I'm just the build for that sort +of thing," protested the lad. + +"Well, then, get him to teach you. Of course we can't know how +to do too many things in this business. We have learned that it +pays to know how to do almost everything. Have you made friends +with the mule since you got back?" + +"Yes. He spooned over me and made believe he loved me like +a brother." + +Teddy paused reflectively. + +"Then what?" + +"Well, then he tried to kick the daylight out of me." + +"I thought so," laughed Phil. "I'm glad I chose an elephant for +my friend, instead of an educated mule. When are you going to +begin on the springboard--begin practicing, I mean?" + +"Mr. Miaco says he'll teach me as soon as we get settled--" + +"Settled? I never heard of a show getting settled--that is, not +until the season is ended and it is once more in winter quarters. +I suppose by 'settled' he means when everything gets to +moving smoothly." + +"I guess so," nodded Teddy. "What are you going to do?" + +"The regular acts that I did last year." + +"No; I mean what are you going to learn new?" + +"Oh! Well, there are two things I'm crazy to be able to do." + +"What are they?" + +"One is to be a fine trapeze performer," announced Phil +thoughtfully. + +"And the other?" + +"To ride bareback." + +"Want to be the whole thing, don't you?" jeered Teddy. + +"No; not quite. But I should like to be able to do those two +things, and to do them well. There is nothing that catches the +audiences as do the trapezists and the bareback riders. And it +fascinates me as well." + +"Here, too," agreed Teddy. + +"But there is one thing I want to talk with you about--to read +you a lecture." + +"You needn't." + +"I shouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of an inquiry +about the row in the dressing tent. You know Mr. Sparling won't +stand for anything of that sort." + +"He doesn't know about it," interposed Teddy. + +"But we do. Therefore, we are just as much to blame as if he +did know. And I am not so sure that he doesn't. You can't fool +Mr. Sparling. You ought to know that by this time. There isn't +a thing goes on in this show that he doesn't find out about, +sooner or later, and he is going to find out about this." + +"I didn't do anything. You did, when you had a scrap with those +two fellows out on the lot." + +"You forget that you started the row by emptying a pail of water +on Larry's head. Don't you call that starting doing anything? +I do." + +Phil had to laugh at the comical expression on his +companion's face. + +"Well, maybe." + +"And we haven't heard the last of those fellows yet. They're mad +all through. I am sorry I had to hit them. But they would have +used me badly had I not done something to protect myself. +I should tell the whole matter to Mr. Sparling, were it not that +I would get others into trouble. That I wouldn't do." + +"I should think not." + +"By the way, Teddy, there come the bareback riders. Don't you +follow after their act?" + +"My! That's so. I had forgotten all about that. Thought I was +watching the show just like the rest of the folks." + +"Better hustle, or you won't get into your makeup in time +to go on. There'll be a row for certain if you are late." + +But Teddy already had started on a run for the dressing tent, +bowling over a clown at the entrance to the paddock and bringing +down the wrath of that individual as he hustled for the +dressing tent and began feverishly getting into his ring clothes. +These consisted of a loose fitting pair of trousers, a slouch hat +and a coat much the worse for wear. A "Rube" act, it was called +in show parlance, and it was that in very truth, more because of +Teddy's drollery than for the makeup that he wore. + +Phil quickly forgot all about the lecture he had been reading to +his companion as the bareback riders came trotting in. His eyes +were fixed on a petite, smiling figure who tripped up to the +curbing, where she turned toward the audience, and, kicking one +foot out behind her, bowed and threw a kiss to the spectators. + +Phil had walked over and sat down by the center pole right +near the sawdust ring, so that he might get a better view +of the riding. + +The young woman who so attracted his attention was known +on the show bills as "Little Miss Dimples, the Queen of the +Sawdust Arena." Phil, as he gazed at her graceful little figure, +agreed that the show bills did not exaggerate her charms at all. + +Little Dimples, using the ringmaster's hand as a step, vaulted +lightly to the back of the great gray ring horse, where she sat +as the animal began a slow walk about the ring. + +Phil wondered how she could stay on, for she appeared to be +sitting right on the animal's sloping hip. + +The band struck up a lively tune, the gray horse began a slow, +methodical gallop. The first rise of the horse bounded Little +Dimples to her knees, and the next to her feet. + +With a merry little "yip! yip!" she began executing a fairy-like +dance, keeping time with her whip, which she held grasped in +both hands. + +"Beautiful!" cried Phil, bringing his hands together sharply. +In fact, he had never seen such artistic riding. The girl seemed +to be treading on air, so lightly did her feet touch the rosined +back of the ring horse. + +Little Dimples heard and understood. She flashed a brilliant +smile at Phil and tossed her whip as a salute. Phil had never +met her, but they both belonged to the same great family, and +that was sufficient. + +His face broke out into a pleased smile at her recognition and +the lad touched his hat lightly, settling back against the +center pole to watch Dimples' riding, which had only just begun. +It made him laugh outright to see her big picture hat bobbing up +and down with the motion of the horse. + +"Works just like an elephant's ear when the flies are thick," +was the lad's somewhat inelegant comparison. + +But now Dimples removed the hat, sending it spinning to the +ringmaster, who, in turn, tossed it to an attendant. The real +work of the act was about to start. Phil never having seen the +young woman ride, did not know what her particular specialty was. +Just now he was keenly observing, that he might learn +her methods. + +Dimples' next act was to jump through a series of paper hoops. +This finished, she leaped to the ring, and, taking a running +start, vaulted to the back of her horse. + +"Bravo!" cried Phil, which brought another brilliant smile from +the rider. She knew that it was not herself, but her work, +that had brought this expression of approval from the Circus Boy, +whom she already knew of by hearing some of the other performers +tell of his achievements since he joined the circus less than a +year ago. + +"The ring is rough. I should have thought they would have +leveled it down better," Phil grumbled, noting the uneven surface +of the sawdust circle with critical eyes. "I'll bet Mr. Sparling +hasn't seen that, or he would have raised a row. But still +Dimples seems very sure on her feet. I wonder if she does any +brilliant stunts?" + +As if in answer to the lad's question, the "tweetle" of the +ringmaster's whistle brought everything to a standstill under the +big top. Even the band suddenly ceased playing. Then Phil knew +that something worthwhile was coming. + +"Ladies and gentlemen!" announced the ringmaster, holding up +his right hand to attract the eyes of the spectators to him, +"Little Miss Dimples, The Queen of the Sawdust Arena, will now +perform her thrilling, death-defying, unexcelled, unequaled feat +of turning a somersault on the back of a running horse. I might +add in this connection that Little Miss Dimples is the only woman +who ever succeeded in going through this feat without finishing +up by breaking her neck. The band will cease playing while this +perilous performance is on, as the least distraction on the part +of the rider might result fatally for her. Ladies and gentlemen, +I introduce to you Little Miss Dimples," concluded the +ringmaster, with a comprehensive wave of the hand toward the +young woman and her gray ring horse. + +Dimples dropped to the ring, swept a courtesy to the audience, +then leaped to the animal's back with a sharp little "yip! yip!" + +During the first round of the ring she removed the bridle, +tossing it mischievously in Phil's direction. He caught it +deftly, placing it on the ground beside him, then edged a little +closer to the ring that he might the better observe her work. + +The ring horse started off at a lively gallop, the rider allowing +her elbows to rise and fall with the motion of the horse, +in order that she might the more thoroughly become a part of the +animal itself--that the motion of each should be the same. + +Suddenly Dimples sprang nimbly to her feet, tossing her riding +whip to the waiting hands of the ringmaster. + +Phil half scrambled to his feet as he saw her poise for a +backward somersault. He had noted another thing, too. She was +going to throw herself, it seemed, just as the horse was on the +roughest part of the ring. He wondered if she could make it. +To him it was a risky thing to try, but she no doubt knew better +than he what she was about. + +The ringmaster held up his hand as a signal to the audience that +the daring act was about to take place. + +Phil crept a little nearer. + +All at once the girl gracefully threw herself into the air. +He judged she had cleared the back of the animal by at least +three feet, a high jump to make straight up with unbent knees. + +But just as she was leaving the back of the horse, the animal +suddenly stumbled, thus turning her halfway around, and for the +instant taking her mind from her work. Dimples already had +begun to turn backward, but he noted that all at once she +stopped turning. + +Phil knew what that meant. As show people term it, she had +"frozen" in the air. She was falling, head first, right toward +the wooden ring curbing. + +"Turn! Turn!" cried Phil sharply. + +The girl was powerless to do so, while the ringmaster, being on +the opposite side of the ring, could be of no assistance to her. + +"Turn!" shouted Phil, more loudly this time, giving a mighty +spring in the direction of the falling woman. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MULE DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF + +The audience had half risen, believing that the girl would surely +be killed. It did seem that it would be a miracle if she escaped +without serious injury. + +But the Circus Boy, his every faculty centered on the task before +him, proposed to save her if he could. + +He sprang up on the ring curbing, stretching both hands above his +head as far as he could reach, bracing himself with legs wide +apart to meet the shock. + +It is not an easy task to attempt to catch a person, especially +if that person be falling toward you head first. But Phil +Forrest calculated in a flash how he would do it. That is, +he would unless he missed. + +It all happened in much less time than it takes to tell it, +of course, and a moment afterwards one could not have told how it +had occurred. + +The Circus Boy threw both hands under Dimples' outstretched +arms with the intention of jerking her down to her feet, +then springing from the curbing with her before both should +topple over. + +His plan worked well up to the point of catching her. +But instantly upon doing so he realized that she was moving +with such speed as to make it impossible for him to retain +his balance. + +Dimples was hurled into his arms with great force, bowling Phil +over like a ninepin. Yet, in falling, he did not lose his +presence of mind. He hoped fervently that he might be fortunate +enough not to strike on a stake, of which there were many on that +side of the ring. + +"Save yourself!" gasped the girl. + +Instead, Phil held her up above him at arm's length. When he +struck it was full on his back, the back of his head coming in +contact with the hard ground with such force as to stun him +almost to the point of unconsciousness. As he struck he gave +Dimples a little throw so that she cleared his body, landing on +the ground beyond him. + +The girl stretched forth her hands and did a handspring, once +more thorough master of herself, landing gracefully on her feet. +But Phil had undoubtedly saved her life, as she well knew. + +Without giving the slightest heed to the audience, which was +howling its delight, Dimples ran to the fallen lad, leaning over +him anxiously. + +"Are you hurt?" she begged, placing a hand on his head. + +"I--I guess not," answered Phil, pulling himself together +a little. "I'll get up or they'll think something is the matter +with me." + +"Let me help you." + +"No, thank you," he replied, brushing aside the hand she had +extended to him. But his back hurt him so severely that he could +only with difficulty stand upright. + +Phil smiled and straightened, despite the pain. + +At that Dimples grasped him by the hand, leading him to the +concourse facing the reserved seats, where she made a low bow to +the audience; then, throwing both arms about Phil, she gave him a +hearty kiss. + +Thunders of applause greeted this, the audience getting to its +feet in its excitement. Had it been possible, both the boy and +Miss Dimples would have been borne in triumph from the ring. + +"Come back and sit down while I finish my act," she whispered. + +"You're not going to try that again, are you?" questioned Phil. + +"Of course I am. You'll see what a hit it will make." + +"I saw that you came near making a hit a few moments ago," +answered the lad. + +"There, there; don't be sarcastic," she chided, giving him a +playful tap. "If you feel strong enough, please help me up." + +Phil did so smilingly; then he retired to his place by the center +pole, against which he braced his aching back. + +"Turn after you have gotten over the rough spot," he +cautioned her. + +Dimples nodded her understanding. + +This time Phil held his breath as he saw her crouching ever so +little for her spring. + +Dimples uttered another shrill "yip!" and threw herself into the +air again. + +He saw, with keen satisfaction, that this time she was not +going to miss. Dimples turned in the air with wonderful grace, +alighting far back on the broad hips of the gray horse with +bird-like lightness. + +Phil doffed his hat, and, getting to his feet, limped away, +with the audience roaring out its applause. They had forgotten +all about the boy who but a few moments before had saved Little +Dimples' life, and he was fully as well satisfied that it should +be so. + +Just as he was passing the bandstand the educated mule, +with Teddy Tucker on its back, bolted through the curtains +like a projectile. The mule nearly ran over Phil, then brought +up suddenly to launch both heels at him. But the Circus Boy had +seen this same mule in action before, and this time Phil had +discreetly ducked under the bandstand. + +Then the mule was off. + +"Hi-yi-yi-yip-yi!" howled Teddy, as the outfit bolted into +the arena. The old hands with the show discreetly darted for +cover when they saw Teddy and his mule coming. Like Phil +Forrest, +they had had experience with this same wild outfit before. +There was no knowing what the bucking mule might not do, +while there was a reasonable certainty in their minds as +to what he would do if given half a chance. + +"Hi! Hi! Look out!" howled Teddy as they neared the entrance +to the menagerie tent, where a number of people were standing. +The boy saw that the mule had taken it into his stubborn head +to enter the menagerie tent, there to give an exhibition of +his contrariness. + +In they swept like a miniature whirlwind, the mule twisting this +way and that, stopping suddenly now and then and bracing its feet +in desperate efforts to unseat its rider. + +But Teddy held on grimly. This rough riding was the delight of +his heart, and the lad really was a splendid horseman, though it +is doubtful if he realized this fact himself. + +A man was crossing the menagerie tent with a pail of water in +each hand. The mule saw him. Here was an opportunity not to +be lost. + +Teddy's mount swept past the fellow. Then both the beast's heels +shot out, catching both the pails at the same time. The two +pails took the air in a beautiful curve, like a pair of rockets, +distributing water all the way across the tent, a liberal portion +of which was spilled over the water carrier as the pails left +his hands. + +The man chanced to be Larry, Teddy's enemy. Teddy was traveling +at such a rapid rate that he did not recognize the fellow, +but Larry recognized him, and thereby another account was charged +up against the Circus Boy. + +But the mule, though the time limit for his act had expired, +had not quite satisfied his longing for excitement. +Whirling about, he plunged toward the big top again. + +"Whoa! Whoa!" howled Teddy, tugging at the reins. But he might +as well have tried to check the wind. Nothing short of a stone +wall could stop the educated mule until he was ready to stop. +The ringmaster had blown his whistle for the next act and the +performers were running to their stations when Teddy and his +mount suddenly made their appearance again. + +"Get out of here!" yelled the ringmaster. + +"I am trying to do so," howled Teddy in a jeering voice. +"Can't go any faster than I am." + +"Stop him! You'll run somebody down!" shouted Mr. Sparling, +dodging out of the way as the mule, with ears laid back on his +head, dashed straight at the showman. + +"Can't stop. In a hurry," answered Teddy. + +On they plunged past the bandstand again, the mule pausing +at the paddock entrance long enough to kick the silk curtains +into ribbons. Next he made a dive for the dressing tent. + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the dressing tent looked +as if it had been struck by a cyclone. + +Clubs and side poles were brought down on the rump of the wild +mule, +most of which were promptly kicked through the side of the tent. +Teddy, in the meantime, had landed in a performer's trunk, +smashing +through the tray, being wedged in so tightly that he could not +extricate himself. Added to the din was Teddy's voice howling +for help. + +The performers, in all stages of dress and undress, had fled to +the outside. + +Then, the mule becoming suddenly meek, pricked forward his ears, +ambled out into the paddock and began contentedly nibbling at the +fresh grass about the edges of the enclosure. + +About this time Mr. Sparling came running in. His face was red +and the perspiration was rolling down it. + +"Where's that fool boy?" he bellowed. "Where is he, I say?" + +"Here he is," answered the plaintive voice of Teddy Tucker. + +"Come out of that!" + +"I can't. I'm stuck fast." + +The showman jerked him out with scant ceremony, while Teddy began +pulling pieces of the trunk tray out of his clothes. + +"Do you want to put my show out of business? What do you think +this is--a cowboy picnic? I'll fire you. I'll--" + +"Better fire the mule. I couldn't stop him," answered the boy. + +By this time the performers, after making sure that the mule had +gone, were creeping back. + +"I'll cut that act out. I'll have the mule shot. I'll-- +Get out of here, before I take you over my knee and give you +what you deserve." + +"I'm off," grinned Teddy, ducking under the canvas. + +He was seen no more about the dressing tent until just before it +was time to go on for the evening performance. + + + +CHAPTER X + +HIS FIRST BAREBACK LESSON + +"Where's that boy?" + +"He'll catch it if he ever dares show his face in this dressing +tent again." + +This and other expressions marked the disapproval of the +performers of the manner in which their enclosure had been +entered and disrupted. + +"Don't blame him; blame the mule," advised Mr. Miaco, the +head clown. + +"Yes; Teddy wasn't to blame," declared Phil, who had entered at +that moment. "Did he do all this?" he asked, looking about at +the scene of disorder. + +"He did. Lucky some of us weren't killed," declared one. +"If that mule isn't cut out of the programme I'll quit +this outfit. Never safe a minute while he and the kid +are around. First, the kid gets us into a scrimmage with the +roustabouts, then he slam bangs into the dressing tent with a +fool mule and puts the whole business out of the running." + +"Was Mr. Sparling--was he mad?" asked Phil, laughing until the +tears started. + +"Mad? He was red headed," replied Miaco. + +"Where's Teddy?" + +"He got stuck in the strong man's trunk there. The boss had to +pull him out, for he was wedged fast. Then the young man +prudently made his escape. If the boss hadn't skinned him we +would have done so. He got out just in time." + +"Are you Phil Forrest?" asked a uniformed attendant entering the +dressing tent. + +"Yes; what is it?" + +"Lady wants to see you out in the paddock." + +"Who is it?" + +"Mrs. Robinson." + +"I don't know any Mrs. Robinson." + +"He means Little Dimples," Mr. Miaco informed him. + +"Oh." + + +Phil hurried from the tent. Dimples was sitting on a property +box, +industriously engaged on a piece of embroidery work. She made a +pretty picture perched up on the box engaged in her peaceful +occupation with the needle, and the lad stopped to gaze at +her admiringly. + +Dimples glanced down with a smile. + +"Does it surprise you to see me at my fancy work? That's what +I love. Why, last season, I embroidered a new shirt waist every +week during the show season. I don't know what I'll do with +them all. But come over here and sit down by me. I ought to +thank you for saving my life this afternoon, but I know you would +rather I did not." + +Phil nodded. + +"I don't like to be thanked. It makes me feel--well, awkward, +I guess. You froze, didn't you?" + +"I did," and Dimples laughed merrily. + +"What made you do so--the horse?" + +"Yes. I thought he was going to fall all the way down, +then by the time I remembered where I was I couldn't turn to save +my life. I heard you call to me to do so, but I couldn't. +But let's talk about you. You hurt your back, didn't you?" + +"Nothing to speak of. It will be all right by morning. I'm just +a little lame now. Where were you--what show were you with +last year?" + +"The Ringlings." + +"The Ringlings?" marveled Phil. "Why, I shouldn't think you +would want to leave a big show like that for a little one such +as this?" + +"It's the price, my dear boy. I get more money here, and I'm +a star here. In the big shows one is just a little part of a +big organization. There's nothing like the small shows for +comfort and good fellowship. Don't you think so?" + +"I don't know," admitted Phil. "This is the only show I have +ever been with. I 'joined out' last season--" + +"Only last season? Well, well! I must say you have made pretty +rapid progress for one who has been out less than a year." + +"I have made a lot of blunders," laughed Phil. "But I'm +learning. +I wish, though, that I could do a bareback act one quarter as +well +as you do. I should be very proud if I could." + +"Have you ever tried it?" + +"No." + +"Why don't you learn, then? You'd pick it up quickly." + +"For the reason that I have never had an opportunity--I've had no +one to teach me." + +"Then you shall do so now. Your teacher is before you." + +"You--you mean that you will teach me?" + +"Of course. What did you think I meant?" + +"I--I wasn't sure. That will be splendid." + +"I saw your elephant act. You are a very finished performer-- +a natural born showman. If you stay in the business long enough +you will make a great reputation for yourself." + +"I don't want to be a performer all my life. I am going to own +a show some of these days," announced the boy confidently. + +"Oh, you are, are you?" laughed Dimples. "Well, if you say so, +I most surely believe you. You have the right sort of pluck +to get anything you set your heart on. Now if my boy only--" + +"Your boy?" + +"Yes. Didn't you know that I am a married woman?" + +"Oh my, I thought you were a young girl," exclaimed Phil. + +"Thank you; that was a very pretty compliment. But, alas, I am +no longer young. I have a son almost as old as you are. He is +with his father, performing at the Crystal Palace in London. +I expect to join them over there after my season closes here." + +"Is it possible?" + +"Yes, and as my own boy is so far away I shall have to be a sort +of mother to you this season. You have no mother, have you?" + +"No. My mother is dead," answered the lad in a low voice, +lowering his eyes. + +"I thought as much. Mothers don't like to have their boys join +a circus; but, if they knew what a strict, wholesome life a +circus performer has to lead, they would not be so set against +the circus. Don't you think, taking it all in all, that we are +a pretty good sort?" smiled Dimples. + +"I wish everyone were as good as circus folks," the boy made +answer so earnestly as to bring a pleased smile to the face of +his companion. + +"You shall have a lesson today for that, if you wish." + +"Do I?" + +"Then run along and get on your togs. As soon as the performance +is over we will get out my ring horse and put in an hour's work." + +"Thank you, thank you!" glowed Phil as Mrs. Robinson rolled up +her work. "I'll be out in a few moments." + +Full of pleasurable anticipation, Phil ran to the dressing +tent and began rummaging in his trunk for his working tights. +These he quickly donned and hurried back to the paddock. +There he found Dimples with her ring horse, petting the +broad-backed beast while he nibbled at the grass. + +"Waiting, you see?" she smiled up at Forrest. + +"Yes. But the performance isn't finished yet, is it?" + +"No. The hippodrome races are just going on. Come over to this +side of the paddock, where we shall be out of the way, and I'll +teach you a few first principles." + +"What do you want me to do first?" + +"Put your foot in my hand and I will give you a lift." + +The lad did as directed and sprang lightly to the back of +the gray. + +"Move over on the horse's hip. There. Sit over just as +far as you can without slipping off. You saw how I did it +this afternoon?" + +"Yes--oh, here I go!" + +Phil slid from the sloping side of the ring horse, landing in a +heap, to the accompaniment of a rippling laugh from Dimples. + +"I guess I'm not much of a bareback rider," grinned the lad, +picking himself up. "How do you manage to stay on it in +that position?" + +"I don't know. It is just practice. You will catch the trick of +it very soon." + +"I'm not so sure of that." + +"There! Now, take hold of the rein and stand up. +Don't be afraid--" + +"I'm not. Don't worry about my being afraid." + +"I didn't mean it that way. Move back further. It is not good +to stand in the middle of your horse's back all the time. +Besides throwing too much weight on the back, you are liable to +tickle the animal there and make him nervous. The best work is +done by standing over the horse's hip. That's it. Tread on the +balls of your feet." + +But Phil suddenly went sprawling, landing on the ground again, +at which both laughed merrily. + +Very shortly after that the show in the big top came to a close. +The concert was now going on, at the end nearest the menagerie +tent, +so Phil and Dimples took the ring at the other end of the tent, +where they resumed their practice. + +After a short time Phil found himself able to stand erect with +more confidence. Now, his instructor, with a snap of her little +whip, started the gray to walking slowly about the ring, Phil +holding tightly to the bridle rein to steady himself. + +"Begin moving about now. Tread softly and lightly. That's it. +You've caught it already." + +"Why not put a pad on the horse's back, as I've seen some +performers do?" he questioned. + +"No. I don't want you to begin that way. Start without a pad, +and you never will have to unlearn what you get. That's my +advice. +I'm going to set him at a gallop now. Stand straight and lean +back +a little." + +The ring horse moved off at a slow, methodical gallop. + +Phil promptly fell off, landing outside the ring, from where he +picked himself up rather crestfallen. + +"Never mind. You'll learn. You are doing splendidly," +encouraged Dimples, assisting him to mount again. "There's the +press agent, Mr. Dexter, watching you. Now do your prettiest. +Do you know him?" + +"No; I have not met him. He's the fellow that Teddy says blows +up his words with a bicycle pump." + +"That's fine. I shall have to tell him that. Remember, you +always want to keep good friends with the press agent. He's the +man who makes or unmakes you after you have passed the eagle eyes +of the proprietor," Dimples laughed. "From what I hear I guess +you stand pretty high with Mr. Sparling." + +"I try to do what is right--do the best I know how." + +She nodded, clucking to the gray and Phil stopped talking at +once, for he was fully occupied in sticking to the horse, +over whose back he sprawled every now and then in the most +ridiculous of positions. But, before the afternoon's practice +had ended, the lad had made distinct progress. He found himself +able to stand erect, by the aid of the bridle rein, and to keep +his position fairly well while the animal took a slow gallop. +He had not yet quite gotten over the dizziness caused by the +constant traveling about in a circle in the narrow ring, +but Dimples assured him that, after a few more turns, this would +wear off entirely. + +After finishing the practice, Dimples led her horse back +to the horse tent, promising Phil that they should meet the +next afternoon. + +Phil had no more than changed to his street clothes before he +received a summons to go to Mr. Sparling in his private tent. + +"I wonder what's wrong now?" muttered the lad. "But, I think +I know. It's about that row we had this morning out on the lot. +I shouldn't be surprised if I got fined for that." + +With a certain nervousness, Phil hurried out around the +dressing tent, and skirting the two big tents, sought out +Mr. Sparling in his office. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SUMMONED BEFORE THE MANAGER + +The lad was not far wrong in his surmise. That Mr. Sparling was +angry was apparent at the first glance. + +He eyed Phil from head to foot, a fierce scowl wrinkling his face +and forehead. + +"Well, sir, what have you been up to this afternoon?" + +"Practicing in the ring since the afternoon performance closed." + +"H-m-m-m! And this forenoon?" + +"Not much of anything in the way of work." + +"Have any trouble with any of the men?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Who?" + +"A man by the name of Larry, and another whom they call Bad Eye." + +"Humph! I suppose you know it's a bad breach of discipline in a +show to have any mixups, don't you?" + +"I do. I make no apologies, except that I was acting wholly in +self defense. All the same, I do not expect any favoritism. +I am willing to take my punishment, whatever it may be," replied +the lad steadily. + +There was the merest suspicion of a twinkle in the eyes of +the showman. + +"Tell me what you did." + +"I punched Larry, tripped his friend, and--well, I don't +exactly know all that did happen," answered Phil without a change +of expression. + +"Knock them down?" + +"I--I guess so." + +"H-m-m. I suppose you know both those fellows are pretty bad +medicine, don't you?" + +"I may have heard something of the sort." + +"Larry has quite a reputation as a fighter." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And you knocked him out?" + +"Something like that," answered Phil meekly. + +"Show me how you did it?" demanded Mr. Sparling, rising and +standing before the culprit. + +"It was like this, you see," began Phil, exhibiting a sudden +interest in the inquiry. "I was chased by the two men. +Suddenly I stopped and let the fellow, Larry, fall over me. +During the scrimmage I tripped Bad Eye. I didn't hit anyone +until Larry crowded me so I had to do so in order to save myself, +or else run away." + +"Why didn't you run, young man?" + +"I--I didn't like to do that, you know." + +Mr. Sparling nodded his head. + +"How did you hit him?" + +"He made a pass at me like this," and the lad lifted +Mr. Sparling's hand over his shoulder. "I came up under his +guard with a short arm jolt like this." + +"Well, what next?" + +"That was about all there was to it. The others came out, +about that time, and I ducked in under the big top." + +To Phil's surprise Mr. Sparling broke out into a roar +of laughter. In a moment he grew sober and stern again. + +"Be good enough to tell me what led up to this assault. +What happened before that brought on the row? I can depend +upon you to give me the facts. I can't say as much for all +the others." + +Phil did as the showman requested, beginning with the ducking of +Teddy by the men when the show was leaving Germantown, and ending +with Teddy's having emptied a pail of muddy water over Larry's +red head that morning. + +He had only just finished his narration of the difficulty, +when who should appear at the entrance to the office tent but +Larry himself. He was followed, a few paces behind, by Bad Eye. + +Mr. Sparling's stern, judicial eyes were fixed upon them. +He demanded to hear from them their version of the affair, +which Larry related, leaving out all mention of his having +ducked Teddy. His story agreed in the main details with what +Phil already had said, excepting that Larry's recital threw the +blame on Teddy and Phil. + +Mr. Sparling took a book from his desk, making a +memorandum therein. + +"Is that all, sir?" questioned Larry. + +"Not quite. If I hear of any further infraction of the rules of +this show on the part of either of you two, you close right then. +Understand?" + +"Yes." + +"That's not all; I'll have you both jailed for assault. As it +is, I'll fine you both a week's pay. Now get out of here!" + +Larry hesitated, flashed a malignant glance at Phil Forrest; +then, turning on his heel, he left the tent. + +"Don't you think you had better fine me, too, sir?" asked Phil. + +"What for?" + +"Because I shall have to do it again some of these days." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That fellow is going to be even with me at the very +first opportunity." + +Mr. Sparling eyed the lad for a moment. + +"I guess you will be able to give a good account of yourself +if he tries to do anything of the sort. Let me say right here, +though you need not tell your friend so that I think Teddy +did just right, and I am glad you gave Larry a good drubbing. +But, of course, we can't encourage this sort of thing with +the show. It has to be put down with an iron hand." + +"I understand, sir." + +"Mind, I don't expect you to be a coward." + +"I hope not. My father used to teach me not to be. +He frequently said, 'Phil, keep out of trouble, but if you +get into it, don't sneak out.' " + +"That's the talk," roared Mr. Sparling, smiting his desk with +a mighty fist. "You run along, now, and give your young friend +some advice about what he may expect if he gets into any +more difficulty." + +"I have done that already." + +"Good! Tell it to him again as coming from me. He's going to +make a good showman, though he came near putting this outfit out +of business with the fool mule this afternoon. I would cut the +act out, but for the fact that it is a scream from start +to finish. Feeling all right?" + +"Yes, thank you. I am perfectly able to go on in the ring act +tonight, if you think best." + +"Wait until tomorrow; wait until tomorrow. You'll be all the +better for it." + +The cook tent was open, as Phil observed. The red flag was +flying from the center pole of the tent, indicating that supper +was being served. In a short time the tent would come down and +be on its way in the flying squadron to the next stand. + +The show was now less than a day out, but many things +had happened. Not a moment had been without its interest or +excitement, and Phil realized that as he walked toward the +cook tent. He found Teddy there, satisfying his appetite, or +rather exerting himself in that direction, for Teddy's appetite +was a thing never wholly satisfied. + +After supper Phil took the boy aside and delivered +Mr. Sparling's message. Teddy looked properly serious, +but it is doubtful if the warning sank very deep into his mind, +for the next minute he was turning handsprings on the lot. + +"Know what I'm going to do, Phil?" he glowed. + +"There's no telling what you will do, from one minute to the +next, Teddy," replied Phil. + +"Going to practice up and see if I can't get in the leaping act." + +"That's a good idea. When do you begin taking lessons?" + +"Taking 'em now." + +"From Mr. Miaco?" + +"Yes. I did a turn off the springboard this afternoon with the +'mechanic on,' " meaning the harness used to instruct beginners +in the art of tumbling. + +"How did you make out?" + +"Fine! I'd have broken my neck if it hadn't been for +the harness." + +Phil laughed heartily. + +"I should say you did do finely. But you don't expect to be able +to jump over ten elephants and horses the way the others do?" + +"They don't all do it. Some of 'em leap until they get half a +dozen elephants in line, then they stand off and watch the real +artists finish the act. I can do that part of it now. But I +tell you I'm going to be a leaper, Phil." + +"Good for you! That's the way to talk. Keep out of trouble, +work hard, don't talk too much, and you'll beat me yet," +declared Phil. "And say!" + +"What?" + +"Be careful with that mule act tonight. You know Mr. Sparling +will be in there watching you. It wouldn't take much more +trouble to cause him to cut that act out of the programme, +and then you might not be drawing so much salary. Fifty dollars +a week is pretty nice for each of us. If we don't get swelled +heads, but behave ourselves, we'll have a nice little pile of +money by the time the season closes." + +"Yes," agreed Teddy. "I guess that's so; but we'll be losing a +lot of fun." + +"I don't agree with you," laughed Phil. + +The lads strolled into the menagerie tent on their way through to +the dressing tent. The gasoline men were busy lighting their +lamps and hauling them on center and quarter pole, while the +menagerie attendants were turning the tongues of the cages about +so that the horses could be hitched on promptly after the show in +the big top began. + +Some of the animals were munching hay, others of the caged beasts +were lying with their noses poked through between the bars of +their cages, blinking drowsily. + +"I'd hate to be him," announced Teddy with a comprehensive wave +of the hand as they passed the giraffe, which stood silent in his +roped enclosure, his head far up in the shadows. + +"Why?" + +"For two reasons. Keeper tells me he can't make a sound. +Doesn't bray, nor whinny, nor growl, nor bark, nor-- +can't do anything. I'd rather be a lion or a tiger or +something like that. If I couldn't do anything else, then, +I could stand off and growl at folks." + +Phil nodded and smiled. + +"And what's your other reason for being glad you are not +a giraffe?" + +"Because--because--because when you had a sore throat think what +a lot of neck you'd have to gargle!" + +Phil laughed outright, and as the giraffe lowered its head and +peered down into their faces, he thought, for the moment, that he +could see the animal grin. + +After this they continued on to the dressing tent, where they +remained until time for the evening performance. This passed off +without incident, Teddy and his mule doing nothing more +sensational than kicking a rent in the ringmaster's coat. + +After the show was over, and the tents had begun to come down, +Phil announced his intention of going downtown for a lunch. + +"This fresh air makes me hungry. You see, I am not used to it +yet," he explained in an apologetic tone. + +"You do not have to go down for a lunch, unless you want to," +the bandmaster informed him. + +"Why, is there a lunch place on the grounds?" + +"No. We have an accommodation car on our section." + +"What kind of car is that?" + +"Lunch car. You can't get a heavy meal there, but you will +find a nice satisfying lunch. The boss has it served at cost. +He doesn't make any money out of the deal. You'll find it on +our section." + +"Good! Come along Teddy." + +"Will I? That's where I'll spend my money," nodded Teddy, +starting away at a jog trot. + +"And your nights too, if they would let you," laughed Phil, +following his companion at a more leisurely gait. + +As they crossed the lot they passed "Red" Larry, as he had now +been nicknamed by the showmen. Larry pretended not to see the +boys, but there was an ugly scowl on his face that told Phil he +did, and after the lads had gone on a piece Phil turned, casting +a careless look back where the torches were flaring and men +working and shouting. + +"Red" Larry was not working now. He was facing the boys, shaking +a clenched fist at them. + +"I am afraid we haven't heard the last of our friend, Larry," +said Phil. + +"Who's afraid?" growled Teddy. + +"Neither of us. But all the same we had better keep an eye on +him while we are in his vicinity. We don't want to get into any +more trouble--at least not, if we can possibly avoid it." + +"Not till Mr. Sparling forgets about today? Is that it?" + +"I guess it is," grinned Phil. + +"He might take it seriously?" + +"He already has done that. So be careful." + +Teddy nodded. But the lads had not yet heard the last of +"Red" Larry. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE HUMAN FOOTBALL + +"Ever try clowning, young man?" asked the Iron-Jawed Man. + +Teddy Tucker shook his head. + +"Why don't you?" + +"Nobody ever asked me." + +"Then you had better ask the boss to let you try it. Tell him +you want to be a clown and that we will take you in and put you +through your paces until you are able to go it alone." + +The show had been on the road for nearly two weeks now, and every +department was working like a piece of well-oiled machinery. +The usual number of minor disasters had befallen the outfit +during the first week, but now everything was system and method. +The animals had become used to the constant moving, and to the +crowds and the noise, so that their growls of complaint were few. + +In that time Teddy and Phil had been going through their act on +the flying rings daily, having shown great improvement since they +closed with the show the previous fall. Their winter's work had +proved of great benefit, and Mr. Sparling had complimented them +several times lately. + +Teddy was now devoting all his spare time to learning to +somersault and do the leaping act from the springboard. +He could, by this time, turn a somersault from the board, +though his landing was less certain. Any part of his anatomy +was liable to sustain the impact of his fall, but he fell in so +many ludicrous positions that the other performers let it go at +that, for it furnished them much amusement. + +However, Teddy's unpopularity in the dressing tent had been +apparent ever since he and the educated mule had made their +sensational entry into that sacred domain, practically wrecking +the place. Teddy and his pet had come near doing the same thing +twice since, and the performers were beginning to believe there +was method in Tucker's madness. + +It had come to the point where the performers refused to remain +in the dressing tent while Teddy and the mule were abroad, +unless men with pike poles were stationed outside to ward off +the educated mule when he came in from the ring. But Teddy +didn't care. The lad was interested in the suggestion of the +Iron-Jawed Man. Had he known that the suggestion had been made +after secret conference of certain of the performers, Tucker +might have felt differently about it. There was something in the +air, but the Circus Boy did not know it. + +"What kind of clown act would you advise me to get up?" he asked. + +"Oh, you don't have to get it up. We'll do that for you. +In fact, there is one act that most all clowns start with, and +it will do as well as anything else for you. You see, you have +to get used to being funny, or you'll forget yourself, and then +you're of no further use as a clown." + +"Yes, I know; but what is the act?" + +"What do you say, fellows--don't you think the human football +would fit him from the sawdust up?" + +"Just the thing," answered the performers thus appealed to. + +Mr. Miaco, the head clown, was bending over his trunk, his sides +shaking with laughter, but Teddy did not happen to observe him, +nor had he noticed that the head clown had had no part in +the conversation. + +"The human football?" questioned Teddy dubiously. + +"Yes." + +"What's that?" + +"Oh, you dress up in funny makeup so you look like a huge ball." + +"But what do I do after I have become a football?" + +"Oh, you roll around in the arena, falling all over yourself and +everybody who happens to get in your way; you bounce up and down +and make all sorts of funny--" + +"Oh, I know," cried Teddy enthusiastically. "I saw a fellow do +that in a show once. He would fall on the ground on his back, +then bounce up into the air several feet." + +"You've hit it," replied a clown dryly. + +"I remember how all the people laughed and shouted. I'll bet I'd +make a hit doing that." + +"You would!" shouted the performers in chorus. + +The show was playing in Batavia, New York, on a rainy night, +with rather a small house expected, so no better time could have +been chosen for Teddy's first appearance as a clown. + +"Had I better speak to Mr. Sparling about it?" + +"Well, what do you think, fellows?" + +"Oh, no, no! The old man won't care. If you make them laugh, +he'll be tickled half to death." + +"What do you say? Is it a go, Tucker?" + +"Well, I'll think about it." + +Teddy strolled out in the paddock, where he walked up and down a +few times in the rain. But the more he thought about the +proposition, the more enthusiastic he grew. He could see himself +the center of attraction, and he could almost hear the howls of +delight of the multitude. + +"They'll be surprised. But I don't believe I had better go on +without first speaking to Mr. Sparling. He might discharge me. +He's had his eye on me ever since the mule tore up the +dressing tent. But I won't tell Phil. I'll just give him +a surprise. How he'll laugh when he sees me and finds out +who I am." + +Thus deciding, the lad ran through the tents out to the front +door, where he asked for Mr. Sparling, knowing that by this time +the owner's tent had been taken down and packed for shipment, +even if it were not already under way on the flying squadron. + +He learned that Mr. Sparling was somewhere in the menagerie tent. +Hurrying back there, Teddy soon came upon the object of +his search. At that moment he was standing in front of the cage +of Wallace, the biggest lion in captivity, gazing at that shaggy +beast thoughtfully. + +"Mr. Sparling," called Teddy. + +The showman turned, shooting a sharp glance at the flushed face +of the Circus Boy. + +"Well, what's wrong?" + +"Nothing is wrong, sir." + +"Come to kick about feed in the cook tent?" + +"Oh, no, no, sir! Nothing like that. I've come to ask a favor +of you." + +"Humph! I thought as much. Well, what is it?" + +"I--I think I'd like to be a clown, sir." + +"A clown?" asked the showman, with elevated eyebrows. + +"Yes, sir." + +Mr. Sparling laughed heartily. + +"Why, you're that already. You are a clown, though you may not +know it. You've been a clown ever since you wore long dresses, +I'll wager." + +"But I want to be a real one," urged Teddy. + +"What kind of clown?" + +"I thought I'd like to be a human football." This time +Mr. Sparling glanced at the boy in genuine surprise. + +"A human football?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What put that idea into your head?" + +"Some of the fellows suggested it." + +"Ah! I thought so," twinkled Mr. Sparling. "Who, may I ask?" + +"Well, I guess most all of them did." + +"I know, but who suggested it first?" + +"I think the Iron-Jawed Man was the first to say that I ought to +be a clown. He thought I would make a great hit." + +"No doubt, no doubt," snapped the showman in a tone that led +Teddy to believe he was angry about something. + +"May I?" + +Mr. Sparling reflected a moment, raised his eyes and gazed at the +dripping roof of the menagerie tent. + +"When is this first appearance to be made, if I may ask?" + +"Oh, tonight. The fellows said it would be a good time, as there +would not be a very big house." + +"Oh, they did, eh? Well, go ahead. But remember you do it at +your own risk." + +"Thank you." + +Teddy was off for the dressing room on a run. + +"I'm It," he cried, bursting in upon them. + +"Get the suit," commanded a voice. "He's It." + +Somebody hurried to the property room, returning with a full +rubber suit, helmet and all. As yet it was merely a bundle. +They bade Teddy get into it, all hands crowding about him, +offering suggestions and lending their assistance. + +"My, I didn't know I was so popular here," thought the lad, +pleased with these unusual attentions. "They must think I'm the +real thing. I'll show them I am, too." + +"Get the pump," directed the Iron-Jawed Man. + +A bicycle pump was quickly produced, and, opening a valve, one of +the performers began pumping air into the suit. + +"Here, what are you doing?" demanded Teddy. + +"Blowing you up--" + +"Here, I don't want to be blown up." + +"With a bicycle pump," added the performer, grinning through the +powder and grease paint on his face. + +"Say, you ought to use that on the press agent!" + +The performers howled at this sally. + +Teddy began to swell out of all proportion to his natural size, +as the bicycle pump inflated his costume. In a few moments +he had grown so large that he could not see his own feet, +while the hood about his head left only a small portion of his +face visible. + +"Monster!" hissed a clown, shaking a fist in Teddy's face. + +"I guess I am. I'd make a hit as the Fattest Boy on Earth in +this rig, wouldn't I? I'll bet the Living Skeleton will be +jealous when he sees me." + +"There, I guess he's pumped up," announced the operator of the +bicycle pump. + +"Try it and see," suggested a voice. + +"All right." + +Teddy got a resounding blow that flattened him on the ground. +But before he could raise his voice in protest he had bounded to +his feet, and someone caught him, preventing his going right on +over the other way. + +The performers howled with delight. + +"He'll do. He'll do," they shouted. + +"Don't you do that again," warned the boy, a little dazed. + +The time was at hand for the clowns to make their own +grand entry. + +"Come on, that's our cue!" shouted one, as the band struck up a +new tune. + +"I--I can't run. I'm too fat." + +"We'll help you." + +And they did. With a clown on either side of him, Teddy was +rushed through the silk curtains and out past the bandstand, his +feet scarcely touching the ground. Part of the time the clowns +were half dragging him, and at other times carrying him. + +At first the audience did not catch the significance of it. +Straight for ring No. 1 Tucker's associates rushed him. +But just as they reached the ring they let go of him. + +Of course Teddy fell over the wooden ring curbing, and went +rolling and bouncing into the center of the sawdust arena. +Phil had made his change in the menagerie tent after finishing +his elephant act, and was just entering the big top as Teddy +made his sensational entrance. He caught sight of his companion +at once. + +"Who's that?" he asked of Mr. Sparling, who was standing at the +entrance with a broad grin on his face. + +"That, my dear Phil, is your very good friend, Mr. Teddy Tucker." + +"Teddy? You don't mean it?" + +"Yes; he has decided to be a clown, and I guess he is on the way. +The people are kicking on the seats and howling." + +"I should judge, from appearances, that the other clowns +were getting even more entertainment out of his act than +is the audience." + +"It certainly looks that way. But let them go. It will do +Master Teddy a whole lot of good." + +A clown jumped to the ring curbing and made a speech about the +wonderful human football, announcing at the same time that the +championship game was about to be played. + +Then they began to play in earnest. Some had slapsticks, +others light barrel staves, and with these they began to belabor +the human football, each blow being so loud that it could be +heard all over the tent. Of course the blows did not hurt +Teddy at all, but the bouncing and buffeting that he got aroused +his anger. + +One clown would pick the lad up and throw him to a companion, +who, in turn, would drop him. Then the audience would yell +with delight as the ball bounced to an upright position again. +This the clowns kept up until Teddy did not know whether he were +standing on his feet or his head. The perspiration was rolling +down his face, getting into his eyes and blinding him. + +"Quit it!" he howled. + +"Maybe you'll ride the educated mule through the dressing +tent again?" jeered a clown. + +"Bring the mule out and let him knock the wind out of the +rubber man!" suggested another. + +"How do you like being a clown?" + +This and other taunts were shouted at the rubber man, Teddy +meanwhile expressing himself with unusual vehemence. + +Mr. Sparling had in the meantime sent a message back to +the paddock. He was holding his sides with laughter, while +Phil himself was leaning against a quarter pole shouting +with merriment. + +Suddenly there came the sound of a clanging gong, interspersed +with shouts from the far end of the tent. + +The spectators quickly glanced in that direction, and they saw +coming at a rapid rate the little patrol wagon drawn by four +diminutive ponies, the outfit so familiar to the boys who attend +the circus. + +The clowns were surprised when they observed it, knowing that the +patrol was not scheduled to enter at this time. Their surprise +was even greater when the wagon dashed up and stopped where they +were playing their game of football. Three mock policemen leaped +out and rushed into the thick of the mock game. + +As they did so they hurled the clowns right and left, standing +some of them on their heads and beating them with their clubs, +which, in this instance, proved to be slapsticks, that made a +great racket. + +This was a part of the act that the clowns had not arranged. +It was a little joke that the owner of the show was playing +on them. Quick to seize an opportunity to make a hit, Sparling +had ordered out the show patrol, and the audience, catching +the significance of it, shouted, swinging their hats +and handkerchiefs. + +The three policemen, after laying the clowns low, grabbed the +helpless human football by the heels, dragging him to the wagon +and dumping him in. They dropped the human football in so +heavily that it bounced out again and hit the ground. The next +time, as they threw Teddy in, one of the officers sat on him to +hold him. + +The gong set up an excited clanging, and the ponies began racing +around the arena the long way, and took the stretch to the +paddock at a terrific speed, with the howls of the multitude +sounding in their ears. + +Reaching the dressing tent, the mock policemen let the air out +of the rubber ball, whereat Teddy sat down heavily in a pail +of water. + +The performers danced around Tucker, singing an improvised song +about the human football. Gradually the angry scowl on the face +of the Circus Boy relaxed into a broad grin. + +"How do you like being a clown now?" jeered the Iron-Jawed Man. + +"Yes; how does it feel to be a football?" questioned another. + +"I guess you got even with me that time," answered Teddy +good-naturedly. "But say, that's easy compared with riding +the educated mule." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DUCKED BY AN ELEPHANT + +The great white billows of the Sparling Combined Shows were +moving steadily across the continent. The receipts had exceeded +Mr. Sparling's most sanguine expectations, and he was in great +good humor. + +Only one unpleasant incident had happened and that occurred at +Franklin, Indiana. Phil and Teddy, while on their way to their +car after the performance late at night, had been set upon by two +men and quite severely beaten, though both lads had given a good +account of themselves and finally driven off their assailants. + +They did not report their experience to Mr. Sparling until the +next morning, having gone directly to their car and put +themselves to bed after having been fixed up with plasters and +bandages by some of their companions. The next morning neither +lad was particularly attractive to look at. However, bearing the +taunts of the show people good-naturedly, they started for the +cook tent just as they were in the habit of doing every day. + +But Mr. Sparling had seen them as they passed his car on +their way. + +"Now, I wonder what those boys have been up to?" he scowled, +watching their receding forms thoughtfully. "I'll find out." + +And he did. He summoned the lads to his office in the tent soon +after breakfast. + +"I expected you would send for us," grinned Phil, as he walked in +with Teddy. + +"What about it? You are both sights!" + +"Grease paint and powder will cover it up, I guess, +Mr. Sparling." + +"I'll hear how it happened." + +"I can't tell you much about it," said Phil. "We were on our way +to the car when a couple of men suddenly jumped out from a fence +corner and went at us hammer and tongs. That's when we got these +beauty spots. If we had seen the fellows coming we might not +have been hit at all." + +"Wait a minute; where did this occur?" demanded the showman. + +"Just outside the lot at Franklin. It was very dark there, and, +as you know, the sky was overcast." + +"Did you know the men--had you ever seen them before?" + +"I couldn't say as to that." + +"No, sir; we couldn't say," added Teddy, nodding. + +Mr. Sparling turned a cold eye upon Tucker. + +"I haven't asked for remarks from you, young man. When I do you +may answer." + +Teddy subsided for the moment. + +"But, had it been anyone you knew, you must have recognized +their voices." + +"They didn't say a word. Just pitched into us savagely. I think +they might have done us serious injury had we not defended +ourselves pretty well." + +"It occurs to me that you were rather roughly handled as it was," +said the showman, with a suspicion of a grin on his face. +"Doctor fixed you up, I suppose?" + +"Oh, no; it wasn't so bad as that." + +"Have you any suspicion--do you think it was any of the +show people?" demanded Mr. Sparling, eyeing Phil penetratingly. + +"I don't know. Here is a button I got from the coat of one of +the men. That may serve to identify him if he is one of our men. +I haven't had a chance to look around this morning." + +The showman quickly stretched forth his hand for the button, +which he examined curiously. + +"And here's a collar, too," chuckled Teddy. + +"A collar? Where did you get that, young man?" + +"Oh, I just yanked it off the other fellow. Guess it hasn't been +to the laundry this season." + +Mr. Sparling leaned back and laughed heartily. + +"Between you, you boys will be the ruination of me. You take my +mind off business so that I don't know what I'm about half of +the time. But I can't get along without you. I'll look into +this matter," he went on more gravely. "Tell the boss canvasman +to send Larry and Bad Eye to me." + +"Yes, sir." + +The lads delivered the message. + +Mr. Sparling's eyes twinkled as these two worthies sneaked +into his tent, each with a hangdog expression on his face. +"Red" Larry had a black eye, while Bad Eye's nose appeared +to have listed to one side. + +The showman glanced at Larry's coat, then at the button in his +own hand. He nodded understandingly. Bad Eye was collarless. + +"Here's a button that I think you lost off your coat last night, +Larry," smiled Mr. Sparling sweetly. "And, Bad Eye, here's +your collar. Better send it to the washerwoman." + +The men were speechless for the moment. + +"Go to the boss, both of you, and get your time. Then I want you +to clear out of here." + +"Wha--what--we ain't done nothing," protested Larry. + +"And you had better not. If I see you about the circus lot again +this season, I'll have you both in the nearest jail quicker than +you can say 'scat!' Understand? Get out of here!" + +The showman half rose from his chair, glaring angrily at them. +His good-nature had suddenly left him, and the canvasmen, knowing +what they might expect from the wrathful showman, stood not upon +the order of their going. They ran. + +Larry had left some of his belongings behind a cage in the +menagerie tent, and he headed directly for that place to get it +out and foot it for the village before Mr. Sparling should +discover him on the grounds. + +In going after his bundle Larry was obliged to pass the elephant +station, where the elephants were taking their morning baths, +throwing water over their backs from tubs that had been placed +before them. A pail full of water had been left near old +Emperor's tub by the keeper, because the tub would hold no more. + +Emperor apparently had not observed it, nor did he seem to +see the red-headed canvasman striding his way. Mr. Kennedy, +the keeper, was at the far end of the line sweeping off the baby +elephant with a broom, while Phil and Teddy were sitting on a +pile of straw back of Emperor discussing their experience the +previous evening. + +"There's Red," said Teddy, pointing. + +"Yes, and he seems to be in a great hurry about something. +I'll bet Mr. Sparling has discharged him. I'm sorry. I hate +to see anybody lose his job, but I guess Red deserves it if +anybody does. He's one of the fellows that attacked us +last night. I haven't the least doubt about that." + +"Yes, and he's got a button off his coat, too," added Teddy, +peering around Emperor. "What I want now is to see a fellow with +his collar torn off. I got a tent stake here by me that I'd like +to meet him with." + +"You would do nothing of the sort, Teddy Tucker! Hello, what's +going on there?" + +As Larry passed swiftly in front of Emperor, the old elephant's +trunk suddenly wrapped itself about the pail of water unobserved +by the discharged canvasman. + +Emperor lifted the pail on high, quickly twisted it bottom side +up and jammed it down over the head of Larry. The latter went +down under the impact and before he could free himself from the +pail and get up, Emperor had performed the same service for him +with the tub of water. + +Under the deluge Red Larry was yelling and choking, making +desperate efforts to get up. He struggled free in a moment, +and in his blind rage he hurled the empty pail full in Emperor's +face, following it with a blow over the animal's trunk with a +tent stake. + +It was the elephant's turn to be angry now. He did not take into +consideration that it was he that was to blame for the assault. +Stretching out his trunk, he encircled the waist of the yelling +canvasman, and, raising him on high, dashed him to the ground +almost under his ponderous feet. + +Phil had risen about the time the tub came down. At first he +laughed; but when the elephant caught his victim, the lad knew +that the situation was critical. + +"Emperor! Down!" he shouted. + +It was then that the elephant cast Red under his feet. + +Phil darted forward just as a ponderous foot was raised to +trample the man to death. Without the least sense of fear the +lad ran in under Emperor, and, grabbing Larry by the heels, +dragged him quickly out. + +The elephant was furious at the loss of his prey, and, raising +his trunk, trumpeted his disapproval, straining at his chains and +showing every sign of dangerous restlessness. + +After getting Larry out of harm's way, Phil sprang fearlessly +toward his elephant friend. + +"Quiet, Emperor, you naughty boy!" Forrest chided. "Don't you +know you might have killed him? I wouldn't want anything to do +with you if you had done a thing like that." + +Gradually the great beast grew quiet and his sinuous trunk sought +out the Circus Boy's pockets in search of sweets, of which there +was a limited supply. + +While this was going on Mr. Kennedy, the keeper, had hurried +up and dashed a pail of water into the face of the now +unconscious Larry. By this time Larry was well soaked down. +He could not have been more so had he fallen in a mill pond. +But the last bucketful brought him quickly to his senses. + +"You--you'll pay for this," snarled Larry, shaking his fist at +Phil Forrest. + +"Why, I didn't do anything, Larry," answered the lad +in amazement. + +"You did. You set him on to me." + +"That'll be about all from you, Mr. Red Head," warned Kennedy. +"The kid didn't do anything but save your life. I wouldn't +let a little thing like that trouble me if I were you. +You've been doing something to that bull, or he'd never have +used you like that. Why, Emperor is as gentle as a young kitten. +He wouldn't hurt a fly unless the fly happened to bite him +too hard. Phil, did you see that fellow do anything to him?" + +Phil shook his head. + +"Not now. He may have at some other time." + +"That's it!" + +Just then Mr. Sparling came charging down on the scene, having +heard of the row out at the front door. + +Larry saw him coming. He decided not to argue the question any +further, but started on a run across the tent, followed by the +showman, who pursued him with long, angry strides. But Larry +ducked under the tent and got away before his pursuer could +reach him, while Phil and Teddy stood holding their sides +with laughter. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN DIRE PERIL + +Two days had passed and nothing more had been seen of the +discharged canvasmen. Believing they were well rid of them +all hands proceeded to forget about the very existence of Larry +and Bad Eye. + +As Phil was passing the roped-off enclosure where the elephants +were tethered, the next morning just before the parade, he saw +Mr. Kennedy regarding one of the elephants rather anxiously. + +"What's the trouble? Anything gone wrong?" sang out the +lad cheerily. + +"Not yet," answered the keeper without turning his head. + +"Something is bothering you or else you are planning out +something new for the bulls," decided Phil promptly. +"What is it?" + +"I don't like the way Jupiter is acting." + +"How?" + +"He is ugly." + +Phil ducked under the ropes and boldly walked over toward the +swaying beast. + +"Better keep away from him. He isn't to be trusted today." + +"Going to send him out in the parade?" + +"Haven't decided yet. I may think it best to leave Jupiter here +with perhaps the baby elephant for company. He would cut up, I'm +afraid, were I to leave him here alone. No; I think, upon second +thought, that we had better take him out. It may take his mind +from his troubles." + +"What do you think is the matter with him?" questioned the +Circus Boy, regarding the beast thoughtfully. + +"That's what bothers me. He has never acted this way before. +Usually there are some signs that I told you about once before +that tells one an elephant is going bad." + +"You mean the tear drops that come out from the slit under +the eye?" + +"Yes. There has been nothing of that sort with Jupiter." + +"He acts to me as if he had a bad stomach," suggested +Phil wisely. + +"That's right. That expresses it exactly. I guess we'll have to +give him a pill to set him straight. But Jupiter never was much +of a hand for pills. He'll object if we suggest it." + +"Then don't suggest it. Just give it to him in his food." + +"You can't fool him," answered Mr. Kennedy, with a shake of +the head. "He'd smell it a rod away, and that would make him +madder than ever. The best way is to make him open his mouth and +throw the pill back as far as possible in his throat." + +"Have you told Mr. Sparling?" + +"No. He doesn't like to be bothered with these little things. +He leaves that all to me. It's a guess, though, as to just +what to do under these conditions. No two cases, any more +than any two elephants, are alike when it comes to disposition +and treatment." + +"No; I suppose not." + +"Where are you going now, Phil?" + +"Going back to the dressing tent to get ready for the parade. +Hope you do not have any trouble." + +"No; I guess I shan't. I can manage to hold him, and if I don't, +I'll turn Emperor loose. He makes a first-rate policeman." + +Phil hurried on to the dressing tent, for he was a little late +this morning, for which he was not wholly to blame, considerable +time having been lost in his interview with Mr. Sparling. + +In the hurry of preparation for the parade, Phil forgot all about +Mr. Kennedy's concern over Jupiter. But he was reminded of it +again when he rode out to fall in line with the procession. +Mr. Kennedy and his charges, all well in hand, were just +emerging from the menagerie tent to take their places for +the parade. Jupiter was among them. He saw, too, that +Mr. Kennedy was walking by Jupiter's side, giving him almost +his exclusive attention. + +Phil's place in the parade this season was with a body of +German cavalry. He wore a plumed hat, with a gaudy uniform and +rode a handsome bay horse, one of the animals used in the running +race at the close of the circus. Phil had become very proficient +on horseback and occasionally had entered the ring races, being +light enough for the purpose. He had also kept up his bareback +practice, under the instruction of Dimples, until he felt quite +proud of his achievements. + +Vincennes, where the show was to exhibit that day, was a large +town, and thousands of people had turned out to view the parade +which had been extensively advertised as one of the greatest +features ever offered to the public. + +"They seem to like it," grinned Phil, turning to the rider +beside him. + +"Act as if they'd never seen a circus parade before," answered +the man. "But wait till we get out in some of the way-back towns +in the West." + +"I thought we were West now?" + +"Not until we get the other side of the Mississippi, we won't be. +They don't call Indiana West. We'll be getting there pretty +soon, too. According to the route card, we are going to make +some pretty long jumps from this on." + +"We do not go to Chicago, do we?" + +"No. Show's not quite big enough for that town. We go south of +it, playing some stands in Illinois, then striking straight west. +Hello, what's the row up ahead there?" + +"What row, I didn't see anything." + +"Something is going on up there. See! The line is breaking!" + +The part of the parade in which Phil was located was well up +toward the elephants, the animals at that moment having turned +a corner, moving at right angles to Phil's course. + +"It's the elephants!" cried the lad aghast. + +"What's happening?" + +"They have broken the line!" + +All was confusion at the point on which the two showmen had +focused their eyes. + +"It's a stampede, I do believe!" exclaimed Phil. "I wonder where +Mr. Kennedy is? I don't see him anywhere." + +"There! They're coming this way." + +"What, the elephants? Yes, that's so. Oh, I'm afraid somebody +will be killed." + +"If there hasn't already been," growled Phil's companion. +"I'm going to get out of this while I have the chance. I've seen +elephants on the rampage before." Saying which, the showman +turned his horse and rode out of the line. His example was +followed by many of the others. + +People were screaming and rushing here and there, horses +neighing, and the animals in the closed cages roaring in a +most terrifying way. + +Phil pulled his horse up short, undecided what to do. He had +never seen a stampede before, but desperate as the situation +seemed, he felt no fear. + +The elephants, with lowered heads, were charging straight ahead. +Now Phil saw that which seemed to send his heart right up into +his throat. + +Little Dimples had been riding in a gayly bedecked two-wheeled +cart, drawn by a prancing white horse. Dressed in white from +head to foot, she looked the dainty creature that she was. + +Dimples, seeing what had happened, had wheeled her horse +quickly out of line, intending to turn about and drive back along +the line. It would be a race between the white horse and the +elephants, but she felt sure she would be able to make it and +turn down a side street before the stampeding herd reached her. + +She might have done so, had it not been for one unforeseen +incident. +As she dashed along a rider, losing his presence of mind, if +indeed, +he had had any to lose, drove his horse directly in front of her. +The result was a quick collision, two struggling horses lying +kicking in the dust of the street, and a white-robed figure lying +stretched out perilously near the flying hoofs. + +The force of the collision had thrown Little Dimples headlong +from her seat in the two wheeled cart, and there she lay, +half-dazed with the herd of elephants thundering down upon her. + +Phil took in her peril in one swift glance. + +"She'll be killed! She'll be killed!" he cried, all the color +suddenly leaving his face. + +All at once he drove the rowels of his spurs against the sides of +his mount. The animal sprang away straight toward the oncoming +herd, but Phil had to fight every inch of the way to keep the +horse from turning about and rushing back, away from the peril +that lay before it. + +The lad feared he would not be able to reach Dimples in time, +but with frequent prods of spur and crop, uttering little +encouraging shouts to the frightened horse, he dashed on, +dodging fleeing showmen and runaway horses at almost every jump. + +He forged up beside the girl at a terrific pace. But, now that +he was there, the lad did not dare dismount, knowing that +were he to do so, his horse would quickly break away from him, +thus leaving them both to be crushed under the feet of the +ponderous beasts. + +It was plain to Phil that Jupiter must have gone suddenly bad, +and, starting on a stampede, had carried the other bulls +with him. And he even found himself wondering if anything +had happened to his friend Kennedy, the elephant trainer. +If Kennedy were on his feet he would be after them. + +As it was, no one appeared to be chasing the runaway beasts. + +Phil leaned far from the saddle grasping the woman by her +flimsy clothing. It gave way just as he had begun to lift her, +intending to pull her up beside him on the horse's back. + +Twice he essayed the feat, each time with the same result. +The bay was dancing further away each time, and the elephants +were getting nearer. The uproar was deafening, which, with +the trumpetings of the frightened elephants, made the stoutest +hearts quail. + +With a grim determination Forrest once more charged alongside +of Dimples. As he did so she opened her eyes, though Phil did +not observe this, else he might have acted differently. + +As it was he threw himself from the bay while that animal was +still on the jump. Keeping tight hold of the saddle pommel, +the reins bunched in the hand that grasped it, Phil dropped down. +When he came up, Dimples was on his arm. + +He then saw that she was herself again. + +"Can you hold on if I get you up?" + +"Yes. You're a good boy." + +Phil made no reply, but, with a supreme effort, threw the girl +into the saddle. To do so he was obliged to let go the pommel +and the reins for one brief instant. But he succeeded in +throwing Dimples up to the saddle safely, where she quickly +secured herself. + +The bay was off like a shot, leaving Phil directly in front of +the oncoming elephants. + +"Run! I'll come back and get you," shouted Dimples over +her shoulder. + +"You can't. The reins are over the bay's head," he answered. + +She was powerless to help. Dimples realized this at once. +She was in no danger herself. She was such a skillful rider that +it made little difference whether the reins were in her hand or +on the ground, so far as maintaining her seat was concerned. +With Phil, however, it was different. + +"I guess I might as well stand still and take it," muttered the +lad grimly. + +He turned, facing the mad herd, a slender but heroic figure in +that moment of peril. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +EMPEROR TO THE RESCUE + +"Get back!" shouted the boy. + +He had descried Teddy Tucker driving his own mount toward him. +Teddy was coming to the rescue in the face of almost +certain death. + +"You can't make it! Go back!" + +Whether or not Teddy heard and understood, did not matter, +for at that moment the view of the plucky lad was shut off +by the elephants forming their charging line into crescent shape. + +"Emperor!" he called in a shrill penetrating voice. But in the +dust of the charge he could not make out which one was Emperor, +yet he continued calling lustily. + +"Emperor!" + +Phil threw his hands above his head as was his wont when desirous +of having the old elephant pick him up. + +Right across the center of the crescent careened a great hulking +figure, uttering loud trumpetings--trumpetings that were taken up +by his companions until the very ground seemed to shake. + +Phil's back was half toward the big elephant, and in the noise he +did not distinguish a familiar note in the call. + +All at once he felt himself violently jerked from the ground. +The lad was certain that his time had come. But out of that +cloud of dust, in which those who looked, believed that the +little Circus Boy had gone down to his death, Phil Forrest +rose right up into the air and was dropped unharmed to the back +of old Emperor. + +For the moment he was so dizzy that he was unable to make up his +mind what had happened or where he was. Then it all came to him. +He was on Emperor's back. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Phil. "Good old Emperor! Steady, steady, +Emperor! +That's a good fellow." + +He patted the beast's head with the flat of his hand, crooned to +him, using every artifice that he knew to quiet the nerves of his +big friend. + +Little by little Emperor appeared to come out of his fright, +until the lad felt almost certain that the big beast would +take orders. He tried the experiment. + +"Left, Emperor!" + +The elephant swerved sharply to the left, aided by a sharp tap of +the riding crop which Phil still carried. + +Phil uttered a little cry of exultation. + +"Now, if I can head them off!" + +With this in mind he gradually worked Emperor around until the +herd had been led into a narrow street. Here, Phil began forcing +his mount back and forth across the street in an effort to check +the rush of the stampede, all the time calling out the command to +slow down, which he had learned from Mr. Kennedy. + +He was more successful than he had even dreamed he could be. + +"Now, if I am not mistaken, that street beyond there leads out to +the lot. I'll see if I can make them go that way." + +All did save Jupiter, who charged straight ahead for some +distance, then turning sharply tore back and joined his fellows. + +"If I had a hook I believe I could lead him. He's a very +bad elephant. I hope nobody has been killed." + +It was more quiet in the street where Forrest now found himself, +and by degrees the excitement that had taken possession of the +huge beasts began to wear off. + +Phil uttered his commands to them in short, confident tones, +all the time drawing nearer and nearer to the circus lot. + +Very soon the fluttering flags from the big top were seen above +the intervening housetops. + +"I'm going to win--oh, I hope I do!" breathed the Circus Boy. + +With rapid strides, at times merging into a full run, the beasts +tore along, now understanding that they were nearing their +quarters, where safety and quiet would be assured. + +And, beyond that, it was time for their dinners. Already bales +of hay had been placed in front of their quarters, and the +elephants knew it. + +As the procession burst into the circus lot a dozen attendants +started on a run toward them. + +"Keep off!" shouted Phil. "Do you want to stampede them again? +Keep away, I tell you and I'll get them home. Drive all the +people out of the way in case the bulls make another break. +That's all you can do now." + +Now young Forrest urged Emperor to the head of the line of +bobbing beasts, feeling sure that the others would follow him +in now. + +They did. The whole line of elephants swept in through the +opening that the attendants had quickly made by letting down +a section of the side walls of the menagerie tent, with Phil +Forrest a proud and happy boy, perched on the head of +old Emperor. + +"Halt!" + +He went at it with all the confidence and skill of a professional +elephant trainer. + +"Stations!" + +Each beast walked to his regular place, a dozen sinuous trunks +gathering up as many wisps of hay. + +"Back up! Back, Jupiter!" + +As docile as if they never had left the tent, each huge beast +slowly felt his way into his corner. + +"Good boy, Emperor!" glowed Phil holding out a small bag of +peanuts, which Emperor quickly stowed away in his mouth bag +and all. + +"You greedy fellow! Now get back into your own corner!" + +The elephant did so. + +"You fellows keep away from here," warned Phil as the anxious +tent men began crowding around him. "Don't let anybody get these +big fellows excited. We've had trouble enough for one day." + +Phil then began chaining down the beasts, his first care being to +secure the unruly Jupiter. But Jupiter's fit of bad temper +seemed to have left him entirely. He was as peaceful as could +be, and, to show that he was good, he showered a lot of hay all +over Phil. + +"You bad, bad boy!" chided the lad. "All this is just because +you let your temper get the best of you. I think perhaps +Mr. Sparling may have something to say to you if anyone +has been killed or seriously hurt. Oh, you want some peanuts, +do you? I haven't any, but I'll get you some, though goodness +knows you don't deserve any. Bring me some peanuts, will +you please?" + +An attendant came running with a bag of them. Phil met him +halfway, not wishing the man to approach too near. With the bag +in his hand the boy walked slowly down the line, giving to each +of his charges a small handful. + +This was the final act in subduing them. They were all +thoroughly at home and perfectly contented now, and Phil +had chained the last one down, except the baby elephant, +that usually was left free to do as it pleased, providing it did +not get too playful. + +At this moment Phil heard a great shouting out on the lot. + +"Go out there and stop that noise!" the boy commanded. He was as +much in charge of the show at that moment as if he had been the +proprietor himself. + +Shortly after that Mr. Kennedy came rushing in on one of the +circus ponies that he had taken from a parade rider. Phil was +delighted to see that the keeper was uninjured. + +"Did you do this, Phil Forrest?" he shouted bursting in. + +"Yes. But I'll have to do it all over again if you keep on +yelling like that. What happened to you?" + +"Jupiter threw me over a fence, into an excavation where they +were digging for a new building. I thought I was dead, but after +a little I came to and crawled out. It was all over but the +shouting then." + +"Did you know I had them?" + +"No; not until I got near the lot. I followed their tracks +you see. Finally some people told me a kid was leading the herd +back here. I knew that was you. Phil Forrest, you are a dandy. +I can't talk now! I'm too winded. I'll tell you later on what I +think of your kind. Now I'm going to whale the daylights out of +that Jupiter." + +"Please don't do anything of the sort," begged Phil. "He is +quiet now. He has forgotten all about it. I am afraid if you +try to punish him you will only make him worse." + +"Good elephant sense," emphasized the keeper. "You ought to be +on the animals." + +"It seems to me that I have been pretty well on them today," +grinned the lad. "Oh, was anybody killed?" + +"I think not. Don't believe anyone was very seriously hurt. +You see, that open lot there gave the people plenty of chance +to see what was coming. They had plenty of time to get away +after that." + +"I'm so glad. I hope no one was killed." + +"Reckon there would have been if you hadn't got busy when +you did." + +"Have you seen Mrs. Robinson? I'm rather anxious about her." + +"There she is now." + +Dimples had changed her torn white dress for a short riding +skirt, and when Phil turned about she was running toward him +with outstretched arms. He braced himself and blushed violently. + +"Oh, you dear," cried the impulsive little equestrienne, throwing +both arms about Phil's neck. "I wish my boy could have seen you +do that! It was splendid. You're a hero! You'll see what a +craze the people will make of you--" + +"I--I think they are more likely to chase us out of town," +laughed Phil. "We must have smashed up things pretty +thoroughly downtown." + +"Never mind; Mr. Sparling will settle the damage. The only +trouble will be that he won't have anyone to scold. You saved +the day, Phil, and you saved me as well. Of course I'm not much, +but I value my precious little life just as highly as the next +one--I mean the next person." + +"The bay ran away with you, didn't he?" + +"I suppose that's what some people would call it. It would have +been a glorious ride if it hadn't been that I expected you were +being trampled to death back there. The bay brought me right to +the lot, then stopped, of course. Circus horses have a lot of +sense. +I heard right away that you were not injured and that you were +bringing the bulls in. Then I was happy. I'm happy now. +We'll have a lesson after the show. You--" + +"When do you think I shall be fit to go in the ring?" + +"Fit now! You're ahead of a good many who have been working +at it for years, and I mean just what I'm saying. There is +Mr. Sparling. Come on; run along back to the paddock with me. +I haven't finished talking with you yet." + +"Perhaps he may want me," hesitated Phil. + +"Nothing very particular. He'll want to have it out with +Mr. Kennedy first. Then, if he wants you, he can go back and +hunt you up, or send for you. Mr. Sparling knows how to send for +people when he wants them, doesn't he?" twinkled Dimples. + +"I should say he did," grinned Phil. "He's not bashful. Has my +friend Teddy got back yet?" + +"Haven't seen him. Why? Worried about him?" + +"Not particularly. He has a habit of taking care of himself +under most circumstances." + +Dimples laughed heartily. + +"It will take more than a stampede to upset him. He'll make a +showman if he ever settles down to the work in earnest." + +"He has settled down, Mrs. Robinson," answered Phil with +some dignity. + +"My, my! But you needn't growl about it. I was paying him +a compliment." + +Thus she chattered on until they reached the paddock. They had +been there but a few moments before the expected summons for Phil +was brought. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN UNEXPECTED PROMOTION + +Phil responded rather reluctantly. He would have much preferred +to sit out in the paddock talking circus with Little Dimples. + +He found Mr. Sparling striding up and down in front of the +elephant enclosure. + +"I hope nothing very serious happened, Mr. Sparling," greeted +Phil, approaching him. + +"If you mean damages, no. A few people knocked down, mostly due +to their own carelessness. I've got the claim-adjuster at work +settling with all we can get hold of. But we'll get it all back +tonight, my boy. We'll have a turn-away this afternoon, too, +unless I am greatly mistaken. Why, they're lining up outside the +front door now." + +"I'm glad for both these things," smiled Phil. "Especially so +because no one was killed." + +"No. But one of our bareback riders was put out of business for +a time." + +"Is that so? Who?" + +"Monsieur Liebman." + +"Oh, that's too bad. What happened to him?" + +"Someone ran him down. He was thrown and sprained his ankle. +He won't ride for sometime, I reckon. But come over here and +sit down. I want to have a little chat with you." + +Mr. Sparling crossed the tent, sitting down on a bale of straw +just back of the monkey cage. The simians were chattering +loudly, as if discussing the exciting incidents of the morning. +But as soon as they saw the showman they flocked to the back of +the cage, hanging by the bars, watching him to find out what he +was going to do. + +He made a place for Phil beside him. + +"Sit down." + +"Thank you." + +"I was just running up in my mind, on my way back, that, +in actual figures, you've saved me about ten thousand dollars. +Perhaps it might be double that. But that's near enough for all +practical purposes." + +"I saved you--" marveled Phil, flushing. + +"Yes." + +"How?" + +"Well, you began last year, and you have started off at the same +old pace this season. Today you have gone and done it again. +That was one of the nerviest things I ever saw. I wouldn't +have given a copper cent for your life, and I'll bet you +wouldn't, either." + +"N-o-o," reflected Phil slowly, "I thought I was a goner." + +"While the rest of our crowd were hiking for cover, like a lot of +'cold feet,' you were diving right into the heart of the trouble, +picking up my principal equestrienne. Then you sent her away and +stopped to face the herd of bulls. Jumping giraffes, but it was +a sight!" + +By this time the monkeys had gone back to finish their +animated discussion. + +"I do not deserve any credit for that. I was caught and I +thought I might as well face the music." + +"Bosh! I heard you calling for Emperor, and I knew right away +that that little head of yours was working like the wheels of +a chariot in a Roman race. I knew what you were trying to do, +but I'd have bet a thousand yards of canvas you never would. +You did, though," and the showman sighed. + +Phil was very much embarrassed and sat kicking his heels into +the soft turf, wishing that Mr. Sparling would talk about +something else. + +"The whole town is talking about it. I'm going to have the press +agent wire the story on ahead. I told him, just before I came +in, that if he'd follow you he'd get 'copy' enough to last him +all the rest of his natural life. All that crowd out there has +come because there was a young circus boy with the show, who had +a head on his shoulders and the pluck to back his gray matter." + +"Have you talked with Mr. Kennedy?" asked Phil, wishing to change +the personal trend of the conversation. + +"Yes; why?" + +"Did he say what he thought was the matter with Jupiter?" + +"He didn't know. He knew only that Jupiter had been 'off' for +nearly two days. Kennedy said something about a bad stomach. +Why do you ask that question?" demanded the showman, with a +shrewd glance at the boy. + +"Because I have been wondering about Jupiter quite a little +since morning. I've been thinking, Mr. Sparling." + +"Now what are you driving at? You've got something in your head. +Out with it!" + +"It may sound foolish, but--" + +"But what?" + +"While Jupiter was bad, he showed none of the signs that come +from a fit of purely bad temper--that is, before the stampede." + +"That's right." + +"Then what brought it on?" asked Phil looking Mr. Sparling +squarely in the eyes. + +For a few seconds man and boy looked at each other without +a word. + +"What's your idea?" asked the showman quietly. + +"It's my opinion that somebody doctored him--gave him +something--" + +The showman uttered a long, low whistle. + +"You've hit it! You've hit it!" he exclaimed, bringing a hand +down on the lad's knee with such force that Phil winced. +"It's one of those rascally canvasmen that I discharged. Oh, if +ever I get my hands on him it will be a sorry day for him! +You haven't seen him about, have you?" + +"I thought I caught a glimpse of him on the street yesterday +during the parade, but he disappeared so quickly that I could not +be sure." + +Mr. Sparling nodded reflectively. + +"You probably heard how Emperor ducked him and--" + +"Yes; you remember I came up just after the occurrence. +I'll tell you what I want you to do." + +"Yes?" + +"I'll release you from the parade for tomorrow, and perhaps +longer, and I want you to spend your time moving around among +the downtown crowds to see if you can spot him. If you succeed, +well you will know what to do." + +"Want me to act as a sort of detective?" grinned Phil. + +"Well, you might put it that way, but I don't. You are serving +me if--" + +"Yes; I know that. I am glad to serve you in any way I can." + +"I don't have to take your word for that," laughed Mr. Sparling. +"I think you have shown me. I have been thinking of +another matter. It has been in my mind for several days." + +Phil glanced up inquiringly. + +"How would you like to come out front?" + +"You mean?" + +"To join my staff? I need someone just like you--a young man +with ideas, with the force to put them into execution after he +has developed them. You are the one I want." + +"But, Mr. Sparling--" + +"Wait till I get through. You can continue with your acts if you +wish, just the same, and give your odd moments to me." + +"In what capacity?" + +"Well, for the want of a better name we'll call it a sort of +confidential man." + +"I appreciate the offer more than I can tell you, Mr. Sparling. +But--but--" + +"But what?" + +"I want to go through the mill in the ring. I want to learn to +do everything that almost anyone can do there." + +The showman laughed. + +"Then you would be able to do what few men ever have succeeded +in doing. You would be a wonder. I'm not saying that you are +not that already, in your way. But you would be a wonder +among showmen." + +"I can do quite a lot of things now." + +"I know you can. And you will. What do you say?" + +"It's funny, but since you told me of the accident to your +bareback man, I was going to ask you something." + +"What?" + +"Rather, I was going to suggest--" + +"Well, out with it!" + +"I was going to suggest that you let me fill in his place until +he is able to work again. It would save you the expense of +getting a new performer on, and would hold the job for the +present man." + +"You, a bareback rider?" + +Phil nodded. + +"But you can't ride!" + +"But I can," smiled the lad. "I've been at it almost ever since +we started the season. I've been working every day." + +"Alone?" + +"No. Mrs. Robinson has been teaching me. Of course, I am not +much of a rider, but I can manage to stick on somehow." + +The manager was regarding him thoughtfully. + +"As I have intimated strongly before this, you beat anything I +ever have seen in all my circus experience. You say you can +ride bareback?" + +"Yes." + +"I should like to see what you can do. Mind you, I'm not saying +I'll let you try it in public. Just curious, you know, to see +what you have been doing." + +"Now--will you see me ride now?" + +Mr. Sparling nodded. + +"Then I'll run back and get ready. I'll be out in a few +minutes," +laughed the boy, as, with sparkling eyes and flushed face, +he dashed back to the dressing tent to convey the good news +to Little Dimples. + +"I knew it," she cried enthusiastically. "I knew you would be a +rival soon. Now I've got to look out or I shall be out of a job +in no time. Hurry up and get your working clothes on. I'll have +the gray out by the time you are ready." + +Twenty minutes later Phil Forrest presented himself in the ring, +with Little Dimples following, leading the old gray ring horse. + +"Come up to ring No. 2," directed the owner. "They haven't +leveled No. 1 down yet. How's this? Don't you use the back pad +to ride on?" questioned Mr. Sparling in a surprised tone. + +"No, sir. I haven't used the pad at all yet." + +"Very well; I'm ready to see you fall off." + +Phil sprang lightly to the back of the ring horse while Dimples, +who had brought a ringmaster's whip with her, cracked the whip +and called shrilly to her horse. The old gray fell into its +accustomed easy gallop, Phil sitting lightly on the animal's hip, +moving up and down with the easy grace of a finished rider. + +After they had swept twice around the ring, the boy sprang to +his feet, facing ahead, and holding his short crop in both hands, +leaning slightly toward the center of the ring, treading on fairy +feet from one end of the broad back to the other. + +Next he varied his performance by standing on one foot, holding +the other up by one hand, doing the same graceful step that he +had on both feet a moment before. + +Now he tried the same feats riding backwards, a most difficult +performance for any save a rider of long experience. + +Mrs. Robinson became so absorbed in his riding that she forgot to +urge the gray along or to crack the whip. The result was that +the old horse stopped suddenly. + +Phil went right on. He was in a fair way to break his neck, +as he was plunging toward the turf head first. + +"Ball!" she cried, meaning to double oneself up into as near an +approach to a round ball as was possible. + +But Phil already had begun to do this very thing. And he did +another remarkable feat at the same time. He turned his body +in the air so that he faced to the front, and the next instant +landed lightly on his feet outside the ring. + +Phil blew a kiss to the amazed owner, turning back to the +ring again. + +By this time Mrs. Robinson had placed the jumping board in the +ring--a short piece of board, one end of which was built up +about a foot from the ground. Then she started the ring horse +galloping again. + +Phil, measuring his distance, took a running start and vaulted, +landing on his feet on the animal's back, then, urging his mount +on to a lively gallop about the sawdust ring, he threw himself +into a whirlwind of graceful contortions and rapid movements, +adding some of his own invention to those usually practiced by +bareback riders. + +Phil dropped to the hip of the gray, his face flushed with +triumph, his eyes sparkling. + +"How is it, Mr. Sparling?" he called. + +The showman was clapping his hands and clambering down the aisle +from his position near the top row of seats. + +"You don't mean to tell me you have never tried bareback riding +before this season?" he demanded. + +"No, sir; this is my first experience." + +"Then all I have to say is that you will make one of the +finest bareback riders in the world if you keep on. It is +marvelous, marvelous!" + +"Thank you," glowed the lad. "But if there is any credit +coming to anyone it is due to Mrs. Robinson. She taught me +how to do it," answered Phil gallantly. + +Little Dimples shook a small, brown fist at him. + +"He knows how to turn a pretty compliment as well as he knows how +to ride, Mr. Sparling," bubbled Dimples. "You should just hear +the nice things he said to me back in the paddock," she teased. + +Phil blushed furiously. + +"Shall I ride again?" he asked. + +"Not necessary," answered the owner. "But, by the way, you might +get up and do a somersault. Do a backward turn with the horse at +a gallop," suggested Mr. Sparling, with a suspicion of a smile at +the corners of his mouth. + +"A somersault?" stammered Phil, somewhat taken back. "Why--I-- +I--I guess I couldn't do that; I haven't learned to do that yet." + +"Not learned to do it? I am surprised." + +Phil looked crestfallen. + +"I am surprised, indeed, that there is one thing in this show +that you are unable to do." The manager broke out into a roar of +laughter, in which Little Dimples joined merrily. + +"May I go on?" asked the lad somewhat apprehensively. + +"May you? May you? Why, I--" + +At that moment Teddy Tucker came strolling lazily in with a long, +white feather tucked in the corner of his mouth. + +The showman's eyes were upon it instantly. + +"What have you there?" he demanded. + +"Feather," answered Teddy thickly. + +"I see it. Where did you get it?" + +"Pulled it out of the pelican's tail. Going to make a pen +of it to use when I write to the folks at Edmeston," answered +the boy carelessly. + +"You young rascal!" thundered Mr. Sparling. "What do you +mean by destroying my property like that? I'll fine you! +I'll teach you!" + +"Oh, it didn't hurt the pelican any. Besides, he's got more tail +than he can use in his business, anyway." + +"Get out of here!" thundered the manager in well-feigned anger. +"I'll forget myself and discharge you first thing you know. +What do you want?" + +"I was going to ask you something," answered Teddy slowly. + +"You needn't. You needn't. It won't do you any good. What is +it you were going to ask me?" + +"I was going to ask you if I might go in the leaping act." + +"The leaping act?" + +"Yes, sir. The one where the fellows jump over the +elephants and--" + +"Ho, ho, ho! What do you think of that, Phil? What do you--" + +"I can do it. You needn't laugh. I've done it every day for +three weeks. I can jump over four elephants and maybe five, now. +I can--" + +"Yes, I have seen him do it, Mr. Sparling," vouched Phil. "He is +going to make a very fine leaper." + +The showman removed his broad sombrero, wiped the perspiration +from his brow, glancing from one to the other of the Circus Boys. + +"May I?" + +"Yes, yes. Go ahead. Do anything you want to. I'm only the +hired man around here anyhow," snapped the showman, jamming his +hat down over his head and striding away, followed by the merry +laughter of Little Dimples. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CIRCUS BOYS WIN NEW LAURELS + +"Bareback riders out!" shouted the callboy, poking his head +into the dressing tent. + +"Get out!" roared a clown, hurling a fellow performer's bath +brush at the boy, which the youngster promptly shied back +at the clown's head, then prudently made his escape to call +Little Dimples in the women's dressing tent. + +Phil Forrest, proud and happy, bounded out into the paddock, +resplendent in pink tights, a black girdle about his loins, +sparkling with silver spangles. + +Little Dimples ran out at about the same time. + +"How do I look?" he questioned, his face wreathed in smiles. + +"If you ride half as well as you look today, you will make the +hit +of your life," twinkled Dimples merrily. "There, don't blush. +Run along. The band is playing our entrance tune. Mr. Ducro +will be in a fine temper if we are a second behind time." + +For that day, and until Phil could break in on another animal, +Little Dimples had loaned her gray to him, for Phil did not +dare to try the experiment of riding a new horse at his +first appearance. Altogether too much depended upon his first +public exhibition as a bareback rider to permit his taking any +such chances. + +Dimples owned two horses, so she rode the second one this day. + +As Phil walked lightly the length of the big top, which he +was obliged to do to reach ring No. 1 in which he was to ride, +his figure, graceful as it was, appeared almost fragile. +He attracted attention because of this fact alone, for the people +did not recognize in him the lad who had that morning stayed the +stampede of the herd of huge elephants. + +"Now keep cool. Don't get excited," warned Dimples as she left +him to enter the ring where she was to perform. "Forget all +about those people out there, and they will do the rest." + +Phil nodded and passed on smiling. Reaching his ring he quickly +kicked off his pumps and leaped lightly to the back of his mount, +where he sat easily while the gray slowly walked about the +sawdust arena. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," announced the equestrian director. +"You see before you the hero of the day, the young man who, +unaided, stopped the charge of a herd of great elephants, +saving, perhaps many lives besides doing a great service for +the Sparling Combined Shows." + +"What did you do that for?" demanded Phil, squirming uneasily +on the slippery seat where he was perched. + +"Unfortunately," continued the Director, "our principal male +bareback rider was slightly injured in that same stampede. +The management would not permit him to appear this evening on +that account, for the Sparling Combined Shows believe in +treating its people right. Our young friend here has consented +to ride in the regular rider's place. It is his first appearance +in any ring as a bareback rider. I might add that he has been +practicing something less than three weeks for this act; +therefore any slips that he may make you will understand. +Ladies and gentlemen, I take pleasure in introducing to you +Master Phillip Forrest, the hero of the day--a young man who is +winning new laurels on the tanbark six days in every week!" + +The audience, now worked up to the proper pitch of enthusiasm by +the words of the director, howled its approval, the spectators +drumming on the seats with their feet and shouting lustily. +Phil had not had such an ovation since the day he first rode +Emperor into the ring when he joined the circus in Edmeston. + +The lad's face was a few shades deeper pink than his tights, +and nervous excitement seemed to suddenly take possession of him. + +"I wish you hadn't done that," he laughed. "I'll bet I fall off +now, for that." + +"Tweetle! Tweetle!" sang the whistle. + +Crash! + +At a wave of the bandmaster's baton, the band suddenly launched +into a smashing air. + +The ringmaster's whip cracked with an explosive sound, at which +the gray mare, unaffected by the noise and the excitement, +started away at a measured gallop, her head rising and falling +like the prow of a ship buffeting a heavy sea. + +Phil was plainly nervous. He knew it. He felt that he was going +to make an unpleasant exhibition of himself. + +"Get up! Get going! Going to sit there all day?" questioned +the ringmaster. + +Phil threw himself to his feet. Somehow he missed his footing in +his nervousness, and the next instant he felt himself falling. + +"There, I've done it!" groaned the lad, as he dropped lightly on +all fours well outside the wooden ring curbing, which he took +care to clear in his descent. + +"Oh, you Rube! You've gone and done it now," growled +the ringmaster. "It's all up. You've lost them sure." + +The audience was laughing and cheering at the same time. + +Feeling her rider leave her back the gray dropped her gallop and +fell into a slow trot. + +Phil scrambled to his feet very red in the face, while +Mr. Sparling, from the side lines, stood leaning against a +quarter pole with a set grin on his face. His confidence in his +little Circus Boy was not wholly lost yet. + +"Keep her up! Keep her up! What ails you?" snapped Phil. + +All the grit in the lad's slender body seemed to come to the +front now. His eyes were flashing and he gripped the little +riding whip as if he would vent his anger upon it. + +The ringmaster's whip had exploded again and the gray began +to gallop. Phil paused on the ring curbing with head slightly +inclined forward, watching the gray with keen eyes. + +Phil had forgotten that sea of human faces out there now. He saw +only that broad gray, rosined back that he must reach and cling +to, but without a slip this time. + +All at once he left the curbing, dashing almost savagely at +his mount. + +"He'll never make it from the ground," groaned Mr. Sparling, +realizing that Phil had no step to aid him in his effort to reach +the back of the animal. + +The lad launched himself into the air as if propelled by +a spring. He landed fairly on the back of the ring horse, +wavered for one breathless second, then fell into the pose +of the accomplished rider. + +"Y-i-i-i--p! Y-i-i-i-p!" sang the shrill voice of Little Dimples +far down in ring No. 1. + +"Y-i-i-i-p!" answered the Circus Boy, while the spectators broke +into thunders of applause. + +Mr. Sparling, hardened showman that he was, brushed a suspicious +hand across his eyes and sat down suddenly. + +"Such grit, Such grit!" he muttered. + +Phil threw himself wildly into his work, taking every conceivable +position known to the equestrian world, and essaying many daring +feats that he had never tried before. It seemed simply +impossible for the boy to fall, so sure was his footing. Now he +would spring from the broad back of the gray, and run across the +ring, doing a lively handspring, then once more vault into a +standing position on the mare. + +Suddenly the band stopped playing, for the rest that is always +given the performers. But Phil did not pause. + +"Keep her up!" Forrest shouted, bringing down his whip on the +flanks of his mount and, in a fervor of excitement and stubborn +determination, going at his work like a whirlwind. + +Mr. Sparling, catching the spirit of the moment scrambled to his +feet and rushed to the foot of the bandstand, near which he had +been sitting. + +"Play, you idiots, play!" shouted the proprietor, waving his +arms excitedly. + +Play they did. + +Little Dimples, too, had by this time forgotten that she was +resting, and now she began to ride as she never had ridden +before, throwing a series of difficult backward turns, landing +each time with a sureness that she never had before accomplished. + +Tweetle! Tweetle! + +The act came to a quick ending. The time for the equestrian act +had expired, and it must give way to the others that were +to follow. But Phil, instead of dropping to the ground and +walking to the paddock along the concourse, suddenly brought down +his whip on the gray's flanks, much to that animal's surprise and +apparent disgust. + +Starting off at a quicker gallop, the gray swung into the +concourse, heading for the paddock with disapproving ears laid +back on her head, Phil standing as rigid as a statue with folded +arms, far back over the animal's hips. + +The people were standing up, waving their arms wildly. +Many hurled their hats at the Circus Boy in their excitement, +while others showered bags of peanuts over him as he raced +by them. + +Such a scene of excitement and enthusiasm never had been seen +under that big top before. Phil did not move from his position +until he reached the paddock. Arriving there he sat down, slid +to the ground and collapsed in a heap. + +Mr. Sparling came charging in, hat missing and hair +standing straight up where he had run his fingers through +it in his excitement. + +He grabbed Phil in his arms and carried him into the +dressing tent. + +"You're not hurt, are you, my lad?" he cried. + +"No; I'm just a silly little fool," smiled Phil a bit weakly. +"How did I do?" + +"It was splendid, splendid." + +"Hurrah for Phil Forrest!" shouted the performers. Then boosting +the lad to their shoulders, the painted clowns began marching +about the dressing tent with him singing, "For He's a Jolly +Good Fellow." + +"All out for the leaping act," shouted the callboy, poking his +grinning countenance through between the flaps. "Leapers and +clowns all out on the jump!" + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DOING A DOUBLE SOMERSAULT + +Cool, confident a troop of motley fools and clean-limbed +performers filed out from the dressing tent, on past the +bandstand and across the arena to the place where the springboard +had been rigged, with a mat two feet thick a short distance +beyond it. + +With them proudly marched Teddy Tucker. + +Mr. Sparling, in the meantime, was patting Phil on the back. + +"I'm in a quandary, Phil," he said. + +"What about?" smiled the lad, tugging away at his tights. + +"I want you out front and yet it would be almost a crime to take +a performer like you out of the ring. Tell me honestly, where +would you prefer to be?" + +"That's a difficult question to answer. There is a terrible +fascination about the ring, and it's getting a stronger hold of +me every day I am out." + +"Yes; I understand that. It's so with all of them. I was that +way myself at first." + +"Were you ever in the ring?" + +"I clowned it. But I wasn't much of a performer. Just did a few +simple clown stunts and made faces at the audience. Then I got +some money ahead and started out for myself. If I'd had you then +I would have had a railroad show long before this season," smiled +the showman. + +"On the other hand," continued Phil, "I am anxious to learn the +front of the house as well as the ring. I think, maybe, that I +could spend part of my time in the office, if that is where you +wish me. If you can spare me from the parade, I might put in +that time to decided advantage doing things on the lot for you," +mused Phil. + +"Spare you from the parade? Well, I should say so. You are +relieved from that already. Of course, any time you wish to go +out, you have the privilege of doing so. Sometimes it is a +change, providing one is not obliged to go," smiled the showman. + +"Most of the performers would be glad if they did not +have to, though." + +"No doubt of it. But let's see; you have how many acts now? +There's the flying rings, the elephant act and now comes the +bareback act--" + +"Yes; three," nodded Phil. + +"That's too many. You'll give out under all that, and now we're +talking about doubling you out in front. I guess we will let the +front of the house take care of itself for the present." + +Phil looked rather disappointed. + +"Of course, any time you wish you may come out, you know." + +"Thank you; I shall be glad to do that. I can do a lot of +little things to help you as soon as I learn how you run +the show. I know something about that already," grinned the lad. + +"If you wish, I will double somebody up on your flying rings act. +What do you say?" + +"It isn't necessary, Mr. Sparling. I can handle all three +without any difficulty, only the bareback act comes pretty +close to the grand entry. It doesn't give me much time to +change my costume." + +"That's right. Tell you what we'll do." + +"Yes?" + +"We'll set the bareback act forward one number, substituting +the leaping for it. That will give you plenty of time to make +a change, will it not?" + +"Plenty," agreed Phil. + +"How about the flying rings. They come sometime later, if I +remember correctly." + +"Yes; the third act after the riding, according to the +new arrangement. No trouble about that." + +"Very well; then I will notify the director and let him make +the necessary changes. I want to go out now and see your young +friend make an exhibition of himself." + +"Teddy?" + +"Yes. He's going on the leaping act for the first time, +you know." + +"That's so. I had forgotten all about it. I want to see that, +too. +I'll hurry and dress." + +"And, Phil," said the showman in a more kindly voice, even, +than he had used before. + +"Yes, sir," answered the lad, glancing up quickly. + +"You are going to be a great showman some of these days, both in +the ring and out of it. Remember what I tell you." + +"Thank you; I hope so. I am going to try to be at least a +good one." + +"You're that already. You've done a lot for the Sparling +Combined as it is and I don't want you to think I do not +appreciate it. Shake hands!" + +Man and boy grasped each other's hand in a grip that meant more +than words. Then Mr. Sparling turned abruptly and hurried out +into the big top where the leaping act was in full cry. + +Painted clowns were keeping the audience in a roar by their +funny leaps from the springboard to the mat, while the supple +acrobats were doing doubles and singles through the air, +landing gracefully on the mat as a round off. + +The showman's first inquiring look was in search of Teddy Tucker. +He soon made the lad out. Teddy was made up as a fat boy with a +low, narrow-brimmed hat perched jauntily on one side of his head. +There was drollery in Teddy's every movement. His natural +clownish movements were sufficient to excite the laughter +of the spectators without any attempt on his part to be funny, +while the lad kept up a constant flow of criticism of his +companions in the act. + +But they had grown to know Teddy better, by this time, and none +took his taunts seriously. + +"That boy can leap, after all," muttered Mr. Sparling. +"I thought he would tumble around and make some fun for the +audience, but I hadn't the least idea he could do a turn. +Why, he's the funniest one in the bunch." + +Teddy was doing funny twists in the air as he threw a somersault +at that moment. In his enthusiasm he overshot the mat, and had +there not been a performer handy to catch him, the lad might have +been seriously hurt. + +Mr. Sparling shook his head. + +"Lucky if he doesn't break his neck! But that kind seldom do," +the owner said out loud. + +Now the helpers were bringing the elephants up. Two were placed +in front of the springboard and over these a stream of gaudily +attired clowns dived, doing a turn in the air as they passed. +Teddy was among the number. + +Three elephants were lined up, then a fourth and a fifth. + +"I hope he isn't going to try that," growled Mr. Sparling, +noting that the lad was waiting his turn to get up on +the springboard. "Not many of them can get away with +that number. I suppose I ought to go over and stop the boy. +But I guess he won't try to jump them. He'll probably walk +across their backs, the same as he has seen the other clowns do." + +Teddy, however, had a different plan in mind. He had espied +Mr. Sparling looking at him from across the tent, and he proposed +to let the owner see what he really could do. + +For a moment the lad poised at the top of the springboard, +critically measuring the distance across the backs of the +assembled elephants. + +"Go on, go on!" commanded the director. "Do you think this show +can wait on your motion all day? Jump, or get off the board!" + +"Say, who's doing this you or I?" demanded Teddy in well-feigned +indignation, and in a voice that was audible pretty much all over +the tent. + +This drew a loud laugh from the spectators, who were now in a +frame of mind to laugh at anything the Fat Boy did. + +"It doesn't look as if anyone were doing anything. +Somebody will be in a minute, if I hear any more of your talk," +snapped the director. "Are you going to jump, or are you going +to get off the board?" + +"Well," shouted Teddy, "confidentially now, mind you. Come over +here. +I want to talk to you. Confidentially, you know. I'm going to +jump, +if you'll stop asking questions long enough for me to get away." + +Amid a roar of laughter from spectators, and broad grins on the +part of the performers, Teddy took a running start and shot up +into the air. + +"He's turning too quick," snapped Mr. Sparling. + +Teddy, however, evidently knew what he was about. Turning a +beautiful somersault, he launched into a second one with the +confidence of a veteran. All the circus people in the big top +expected to see the lad break his neck. Instead, however, Tucker +landed lightly and easily on his feet while the spectators +shouted their approval. But instead of landing on the mat as he +thought he was doing, Teddy was standing on the back of the last +elephant in the line. + +His double somersault had made him dizzy and the boy did not +realize that he had not yet reached the mat on the ground. +Bowing and smiling to the audience, the Fat Boy started to +walk away. + +Then Teddy fell off, landing in a heap on the hard ground. +He rose, aching, but the onlookers on the boards took it all +as a funny finish, and gleefully roared their appreciation. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MAROONED IN A FREIGHT CAR + +"Catch him! Catch him! Catch that man!" + +The parade was just passing when Phil shouted out the words +that attracted all eyes toward him. It was to a policeman that +he appealed. + +The lad had discovered a shock of red hair above the heads of the +people, and was gradually working his way toward the owner of it, +when all at once Red Larry discovered him. + +Red pushed his way through the crowd and disappeared down an +alleyway, the policeman to whom the boy had appealed making no +effort to catch the man. + +"What kind of a policeman are you, anyway?" cried Phil +in disgust. "That fellow is a crook, and we have been on the +lookout for him for the last four weeks." + +"What's he done?" + +"Done? Tried to poison one of the elephants, and a lot of +other things." + +"The kid's crazy or else he belongs to the circus," laughed +a bystander. + +Phil Forrest did not hear the speaker, however, for the boy had +dashed through the crowd and bounded into the alley where he had +caught a glimpse of a head of red hair a moment before. + +But Larry was nowhere in sight. He had disappeared utterly. + +"I was right," decided Phil, after going the length of the alley +and back. "He's been following this show right along, and +before he gets through he'll put us out of business if we don't +look sharp." + +Considerable damage already had been done. Horses and other +animals fell ill, in some instances with every evidence of +poisoning; guy ropes were cut, and the cars had been tampered +with in the railroad yards. + +All this was beginning to get on the nerves of the owner of +the show, as well as on those of some of his people who knew +about it. Things had come to a point where it was necessary +to place more men on guard about the lot to protect the +show's property. + +At each stand of late efforts had been made to get the police to +keep an eye open for one Red Larry, but police officials do not, +as a rule, give very serious heed to the complaints of a circus, +especially unless the entire department has been pretty well +supplied with tickets. Mr. Sparling was a showman who did not +give away many tickets unless there were some very good reason +for so doing. + +Phil, in the meantime, had been at work in an effort to +satisfy his own belief that Larry was responsible for their +numerous troubles. Yet up to this moment the lad had not caught +sight of Red; and now he had lost the scoundrel through the +laxity of a policeman. + +There was no use "crying over spilled milk," as Phil +told himself. + +The lad spent the next hour in tramping over the town where the +circus was to show that day. He sought everywhere for Red, +but not a sign of the fellow was to be found. + +As soon as the parade was over Phil hastened back to the lot to +acquaint Mr. Sparling with what he suspected. + +"Do you know," said Phil, "I believe that fellow and his +companion are riding on one of our trains every night?" + +"What?" exclaimed the showman. + +"You'll find I'm right when the truth is known. Then there's +something else. There have been a lot of complaints about +sneak thieves in the towns we have visited since Red left us. +You can't tell. There may be some connection between these +robberies and his following the show. I'm going to get Larry +before I get through with this chase." + +"Be careful, Phil. He is a bad man. You know what to expect +from him if he catches you again." + +"I am not afraid. I'll take care of myself if I see him coming. +The trouble is that Red doesn't go after a fellow that way." + +Phil went on in his three acts as usual that afternoon, +after having spent an hour at the front door taking tickets, +to which task he had assigned himself soon after his talk with +Mr. Sparling. + +It was instructive; it gave the boy a chance to see the people +and to get a new view of human nature. If there is one place in +the world where all phases of human nature are to be found, +that place is the front door of a circus. + +The Circus Boys, by this time, had both fitted into their new +acts as if they had been doing them for years--Phil doing the +bareback riding and Teddy tumbling in the leaping act, both lads +gaining the confidence and esteem more and more every day of +their fellow performers and the owner of the show. + +That night, after the performance was ended, Phil stood around +for a time, watching the men at work pulling down the tent. +He had another motive, too. He had thought that perchance he +might see something of the man he was in search of, for no better +time could be chosen to do damage to circus property than when +the canvas was being struck. + +Then everyone was too busy to pay any attention to anyone else. +Teddy had gone on to pay his usual evening visit to the +accommodation car and at the same time make miserable the +existence of the worthy who presided over that particular car. + +Phil waited until nearly twelve o'clock; then, deciding that it +would be useless to remain there longer, turned his footsteps +toward the railroad yards, for he was tired and wanted to get to +bed as soon as possible. + +He found the way readily, having been over to the car once during +the morning while out looking for Red Larry. The night was very +dark, however, and the yards, at the end from which he approached +them, were enshrouded in deep shadows. + +On down the tracks Phil could see the smoking torches where the +men were at work running the heavy cages and canvas wagons up on +the flat cars. Men were shouting and yelling, the usual +accompaniment to this proceeding, while crowds of curious +villagers were massed about the sides of the yard at that point, +watching the operations. + +"That's the way I used to sit up and watch the circus get out +of town," mused Phil, grinning broadly, as he began hunting for +the sleeper where his berth was. + +All at once the lights seemed to disappear suddenly from before +his eyes. Phil felt himself slowly settling to the ground. +He tried to cry out, but could not utter a sound. + +Then the lad understood that he was being grasped in a +vise-like grip. That was the last he knew. + +When Phil finally awakened he was still in deep, +impenetrable darkness. The train was moving rapidly, +but there seemed to the boy to be something strange and +unusual in his surroundings. His berth felt hard and unnatural. +For a time he lay still with closed eyes, trying to recall what +had happened. There was a blank somewhere, but he could not +find it. + +"Funny! This doesn't seem like No. 11. If it is, we must be +going over a pretty rough stretch of road." + +He put out both hands cautiously and groped about him. +Phil uttered an exclamation of surprise. + +"Good gracious, I'm on the floor. I must have fallen out of +bed." + +Then he realized that this could not be the case, because there +was a carpet on the floor of No. 11. + +This was a hard, rough floor on which he was lying, and the air +was close, very different from that in the well-kept sleeping car +in which he traveled nightly from stand to stand. + +In an effort to get to his feet the lad fell back heavily. +His head was swimming dizzily, and how it did ache! + +"I wonder what has happened?" Forrest thought out loud. "Maybe I +was struck by a train. No; that couldn't be the case, or I +should not be here. But where am I? I might be in one of +the show cars, but I don't believe there is an empty car on +the train." + +As soon as Phil felt himself able to sit up he searched +through his pockets until he found his box of matches, which he +always carried now, as one could not tell at what minute they +might be needed. + +Striking a light, he glanced quickly about him; then the match +went out. + +"I'm in a freight car," he gasped. "But where, where?" + +There was no answer to this puzzling question. Phil struggled to +his feet, and, groping his way to the door, began tugging at it +to get it open. The door refused to budge. + +"Locked! It's locked on the outside! What shall I do? +What shall I do?" he cried. + +Phil sat down weak and dizzy. There was nothing, so far as +he could see, that could be done to liberate himself from +his imprisonment. Chancing to put his hand to his head, +he discovered a lump there as large as a goose egg. + +"I know--let me think--something--somebody must have hit me an +awful crack. Now I remember--yes, I remember falling down in the +yard there just as if something had struck me. Who could have +done such a cruel thing?" + +Phil thought and thought, but the more he thought about it the +more perplexed did he become. All at once he started up, +with a sudden realization that the train was slowing down. +He could hear the air brakes grating and grinding and squealing +against the car wheels below him, until finally the train came to +a dead stop. + +"Now is my chance to make somebody hear," Phil cried, springing +up and groping for the door again. + +He shouted at the top of his voice, then beat against the heavy +door with fists and feet, but not a sign could he get that anyone +heard him. + +As a matter of fact, no one was near him at that moment. The +long +freight train had stopped at a water tank far out in the country, +and the trainmen were at the extreme ends of the train. + +In a few moments the train started with such a jerk that Forrest +was thrown off his feet. He sprang up again, hoping that the +train might be going past a station there, and that someone might +hear him. Then he began rattling at and kicking the door again. + +It was all to no purpose. + +Finally, in utter exhaustion, the lad sank to the floor, soon +falling into a deep sleep. How long he slept he did not know +when at last he awakened. + +"Why, the train has stopped," Forrest exclaimed, suddenly sitting +up and rubbing his eyes. "Now I ought to make somebody hear me +because it's daylight. I can see the light underneath the door. +I'll try it again." + +He did try it, hammering at the door and shouting at intervals +during the long hours that followed. Once more he lighted +matches and began examining his surroundings with more care. +Phil discovered a trap door in the roof, but it was closed. + +"If only there were a rope hanging down, I'd be up there in no +time," +he mused. I wonder if I couldn't climb up and hang to the +braces. +I might reach it in that way. I'm going to try it." + +Deciding upon this, the Circus Boy, after no little effort, +succeeded in climbing up to one of the side braces in the car. +>From the plates long, narrow beams extended across the car, thus +supporting the roof. Choosing two that led along near the trap, +Phil, after a few moments' rest, gripped one firmly in each hand +from the underside and began swinging himself along almost as if +he were traveling on a series of traveling rings, but with +infinitely more effort and discomfort. + +His hands were aching frightfully, and he knew that he could hold +on but a few seconds longer. + +"I've got to make it," he gasped, breathing hard. + +At last he had reached the goal. Phil released one hand and +quickly extended it to the trap door frame. + +There was not a single projection there to support him, +nor to which he might cling. His hand slipped away, suddenly +throwing his weight upon the hand grasping the roof timber. +The strain was too much. Phil Forrest lost his grip and fell +heavily to the floor. + +But this time he did not rise. The lad lay still where he +had fallen. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE BARNYARD CIRCUS + +When next Phil opened his eyes he was lying on the grass +on the shady side of a freight car with someone dashing water +in his face, while two or three others stood around gazing at +him curiously. + +"Whe--where am I?" gasped the boy. + +"I reckon you're lucky to be alive," laughed the man who had been +soaking him from a pail of water. "Who be ye?" + +"My name is Phil Forrest." + +"How'd ye git in that car? Stealing a ride, eh? Reckon we'd +better hand ye over to the town constable. It's again the law to +steal rides on freight trains." + +"I've not stolen a ride. It's no such thing," protested +Phil indignantly. + +"Ho, ho, that's a rich one! Paid yer fare, hey? Riding like a +gentleman in a side-door Pullman. Good, ain't it, fellows?" + +"Friends, I assure you I am not a tramp. Someone assaulted me +and locked me in that car last night. I've got money in my +pocket to prove that I am not a tramp." + +The lad thrust his hands into his trousers' pockets, then a blank +expression overspread his face. Reaching to his vest to see if +his watch were there, he found that that, too, was missing. + +"I've been robbed," he gasped. "That's what it was. +Somebody robbed and threw me into this car last night. +See, I've got a lump on my head as big as a man's fist." + +"He sure has," agreed one of the men. "Somebody must a given him +an awful clout with a club." + +"What town is this, please?" + +"Mexico, Missouri." + +"Mexico?" + +"Yes." + +"How far is it from St. Joseph?" + +"St. Joseph? Why, I reckon St. Joe is nigh onto a hundred and +fifty miles from here." + +Phil groaned. + +"A hundred and fifty miles and not a cent in my pocket! +What shall I do? Can I send a telegram? Where is the station?" + +"Sunday. Station closed." + +"Sunday? That's so." + +Phil walked up and down between the tracks rather unsteadily, +curiously observed by the villagers. They had heard his groans +in the freight car on the siding as they passed, and had quickly +liberated the lad. + +"Do you think I could borrow enough money somewhere here to get +me to St. Joseph? I would send it back by return mail." + +The men laughed long and loud. + +"What are you in such a hurry to get to St. Joe for?" demanded +the spokesman of the party. + +"Because I want to get back to the circus." + +"Circus?" they exclaimed in chorus. + +"Yes. I belong with the Sparling Combined Shows. I was on my +way to my train, in the railroad yards, when I was knocked out +and thrown into that car." + +"You with a circus?" The men regarded him in a new light. + +"Yes; why not?" + +This caused them to laugh. Plainly they did not believe him. +Nor did Phil care much whether they did or not. + +"What time is it?" he asked. + +"Church time." + +He knew that, for he could hear the bells ringing off in the +village to the east of them. + +"I'll tell you what, sirs; I have got to have some breakfast. +If any of you will be good enough to give me a meal I shall be +glad to do whatever you may wish to pay for it. Then, if I +cannot find the telegraph operator, I shall have to stay over +until I do." + +"What do you want the telegraph man for?" + +"I want to wire the show for some money to get back with. +I've got to be there tomorrow, in time for the show. I must do +it, if I have to run all the way." + +The men were impressed by his story in spite of themselves; +yet they were loath to believe that this slender lad, much the +worse for wear, could belong to the organization he had named. + +"What do you do in the show?" + +"I perform on the flying rings, ride the elephant and ride +bareback in the ring. What about it? Will one of you put +me up?" + +The villagers consulted for a moment; then the spokesman turned +to Phil. + +"I reckon, if you be a circus feller, you kin show us some +tricks, eh?" + +"Perform for you, you mean?" + +"Yep." + +"Well, I don't usually do anything like that on Sunday," answered +the Circus Boy reflectively. + +"Eat on Sunday, don't you?" + +"When I get a chance," Phil grinned. "I guess your argument +wins. +I've got to eat and I have offered to earn my meal. What do you +want me to do?" + +"Kin you do a flip?" + +Phil threw himself into a succession of cartwheels along the edge +of the railroad tracks, ending in a backward somersault. + +"And you ride a hoss without any saddle, standing up on his +back--you do that, too?" + +"Why, yes," laughed Phil, his face red from his exertion. + +"Then, come along. Come on, fellers!" + +Phil thought, of course, that he was being taken to the man's +home just outside the village, where he would get his breakfast. +He was considerably surprised, therefore, when the men passed the +house that his acquaintance pointed out as belonging to himself, +and took their way on toward a collection of farm buildings some +distance further up the road. + +"I wonder what they are going to do now?" marveled Phil. +"This surely doesn't look much like breakfast coming my way, +and I'm almost famished." + +The leader of the party let down the bars of the farmyard, +conducting his guests around behind a large hay barn, into an +enclosed space, in the center of which stood a straw stack, +the stack and yard being surrounded by barns and sheds. + +"Where are you fellows taking me? Going to put me in the stable +with the live stock?" questioned Phil, laughingly. + +"You want some breakfast, eh?" + +"Certainly I do, but I'm afraid I can't eat hay." + +The men laughed uproariously at this bit of humor. + +"Must be a clown," suggested one. + +"No, I am not a clown. My little friend who performs with me, +and comes from the same town I do, is one. I wish he were here. +He would make you laugh until you couldn't stand without leaning +against something." + +"Here, Joe! Here, Joe!" their guide began calling in a loud +voice, alternating with loud whistling. + +Phil heard a rustling over behind the straw stack, and then out +trotted a big, black draft horse, a heavy-footed, broad-backed +Percheron, to his astonishment. + +"My, that's a fine piece of horse flesh," glowed the lad. +"We have several teams of those fellows for the heavy work with +the show. Of course we don't use them in the ring. Is this what +you brought me here to see?" + +"Yep. Git up there." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Git up and show us fellers if you're a real circus man." + +"You mean you want me to ride him?" said Phil. + +"Sure thing." + +"How?" + +"Git on his back and do one of them bareback stunts you was +telling us about," and the fellow winked covertly at his +companions, as much as if to say, "we've got him going +this time." + +"What; here in this rough yard?" + +"Yep." + +Phil considered for a moment, stamping about on the straw-covered +ground, then sizing up the horse critically. + +"All right. Bring me a bridle and fasten a long enough rein to +the bit so I can get hold of it standing up." + +He was really going to do as they demanded. The men were +surprised. +They had not believed he could, and now, at any rate, he was +going +to make an effort to make good his boast. + +A bridle was quickly fetched and slipped on the head of old Joe. +In place of reins the farmer attached a rope to the bridle, +Phil measuring on the back of the horse to show how long it +should be cut. + +The preparations all complete, Phil grasped the rein and +vaulted to the high back of the animal, landing astride neatly. +This brought an exclamation of approval from the audience. + +"Now git up on your feet." + +"Don't be in a hurry. I want to ride him around the stack a few +times to get the hang of the ring," laughed Phil. "It's a good, +safe place to fall, anyway. Do I get some breakfast after +this exhibition?" he questioned. + +"That depends. Go on." + +"Gid-dap!" commanded Phil, patting the black on its powerful +neck. +Then they went trotting around the stack, the men backing off to +get a better view of the exhibition. + +On the second round Phil drew up before them. + +"Got any chalk on the place?" he asked. + +"Reckon there's some in the barn." + +"Please fetch it." + +They did not know what he wanted chalk for, but the owner of +the place hurried to fetch it. In the meantime Phil was slowly +removing his shoes, which he threw to one side of the yard. +Bidding the men break up the chalk into powder, he smeared the +bottoms of his stockings with the white powder, sprinkling a +liberal supply on the back of the horse. + +"Here, here! What you doing? I have to curry that critter down +every morning," shouted the owner. + +Phil grinned and clucked to the horse, whose motion he had caught +in his brief ride about the stack, and once more disappeared +around the pile. When he hove in sight again, the black was +trotting briskly, with Phil Forrest standing erect, far back on +the animal's hips, urging him along with sharp little cries, and +dancing about as much at home as if he were on the solid ground. + +The farmers looked on with wide-open mouths, too amazed to speak. + +Phil uttered a shout, and set the black going about the +stack faster and faster, throwing himself into all manner of +artistic positions. + +After the horse had gotten a little used to the strange work, +Phil threw down the reins and rode without anything of the sort +to give him any support. + +Probably few farm barnyards had ever offered an attraction like +it before. + +"Come up here!" cried the lad, to the lighter of the men. +"I'll give you a lesson." + +The fellow protested, but his companions grabbed him and threw +him to old Joe's back. Phil grabbed his pupil by the coat +collar, jerking him to his feet and started old Joe going at a +lively clip. + +You should have heard those farmers howl, at the ludicrous sight +of their companion sprawling all over the back of the black, with +Phil, red-faced, struggling with all his might to keep the fellow +on, and at the same time prevent himself taking a tumble! + +At last the burden was too much for Phil, and his companion took +an inglorious tumble, head first into the straw at the foot of +the stack, while the farmers threw themselves down, rolling about +and making a great din with their howls of merriment. + +"There, I guess I have earned my breakfast," decided the lad, +dropping off near the spot where he had cast his shoes. + +"You bet you have, little pardner. You jest come over to the +house and fill up on salt pork and sauerkraut. You kin stay all +summer if you want to. Hungry?" + +"So hungry that, if my collar were loose, it would be falling +down over my feet," grinned the lad. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHEN THE CRASH CAME + +There was rejoicing on the part of his fellows, and relief in +the heart of Mr. Sparling when, along toward noon next day, +Phil Forrest came strolling on the circus lot at St. Joseph. + +His friends, the farmers, had not only given him food and +lodging, but had advanced him enough money for his fare through +to join the show. His first duty was to get some money from +Mr. Sparling and send it back to his benefactors. + +This done, Phil repaired to the owner's tent where he knew Mr. +Sparling was anxiously waiting to hear what had happened to him. + +Phil went over the circumstances in detail, while Mr. Sparling +listened gravely at first, then with rising color as his +anger increased. + +"It's Red Larry!" decided Mr. Sparling, with an emphasizing blow +of his fist on the desk before him. + +"After I thought the matter over that was what I decided--I mean +that was the decision I came to." + +"Right. Another season I'll have an officer with this show. +That's the only way we can protect ourselves." + +"Do all the big shows carry an officer?" asked Phil. + +"Yes; they have a detective with them--not a tin badge detective, +but a real one. Don't try to go out today. Get your dinner and +rest up for the afternoon performance. I think you had better go +to the train in my carriage tonight. I'm not going to take any +more such chances with you." + +"I'll look out for myself after this, Mr. Sparling," laughed +Phil. +"I think it was only two days ago that I said I wasn't afraid of +Larry--that he couldn't get me. But he did." + +That afternoon, as Phil related his experiences to the dressing +tent, he included the barnyard circus, which set the performers +in a roar. + +Phil felt a little sore and stiff after his knockout and his +long ride in the freight car; but, after taking half an hour of +bending exercises in the paddock, he felt himself fit to go on +with his ring and bareback acts. + +Both his acts passed off successfully, as did the Grand Entry in +which he rode old Emperor. + +That night, after the performance, Phil hurried to the train, +but kept a weather eye out that he might not be assaulted again. +He found himself hungry, and, repairing to the accommodation car +for a lunch, discovered Teddy stowing away food at a great rate. + +"So you're here, are you?" laughed Phil. + +"Yep; I live here most of the time," grinned Teddy. "They like +to have me eat here. I'm a sort of nest egg, you know. It makes +the others hungry to see me eat, and they file in in a +perfect procession. How's your head?" + +"Still a size too large," answered Phil, sinking down on a stool +and ordering a sandwich. + +As the lads ate and talked two or three other performers came in, +whereupon the conversation became more general. + +All at once there came a bang as a switching engine bumped into +the rear of their car. Teddy about to pass a cup of steaming +coffee to his lips, spilled most of it down his neck. + +"Ouch!" he yelled, springing up, dancing about the floor, +holding his clothes as far from his body as possible. "Here, you +quit that!" he yelled, poking his head out of a window. "If you +do that again I'll trim you with a pitcher of coffee and see how +you like that." + +Bang! + +Once more the engine smashed into them, having failed to make the +coupling the first time. + +Teddy sat down heavily in the middle of the car, just as Little +Dimples tripped in. In one hand he held a sandwich half +consumed, while with the other he was still stretching his collar +as far from his neck as it would go. + +"Why, Teddy," exclaimed Dimples, "what are you doing on the +floor?" + +"Eating my lunch. Always eat it sitting on the floor, you know," +growled the boy, at which there was a roar from the others. + +"What are they trying to do out there?" questioned Phil. + +"Going to shift us about on another track, I guess. I was nearly +thrown down when I tried to get on the platform. I never saw a +road where they were so rough. Did you?" + +"Yes; I rode on one the other night that could beat this," +grinned Phil. + +A few minutes later the car got under motion, pushed by a +switching engine, and began banging along merrily over switches, +tearing through the yard at high speed. + +"We seem to be in a hurry 'bout something," grunted Teddy. +"Maybe they've hooked us on the wrong train, and we're bound for +somewhere else." + +"No, I don't think so," replied Phil. "You should be used to +this sort of thing by this time." + +"I don't care as long as the food holds out. It doesn't make any +difference where they take us." + +"What section does this car go out on tonight, steward?" +questioned Phil. + +"The last. Goes out with the sleepers." + +"That explains it. They are shifting us around, making up the +last section and to get us out of the way of section No. 2. +I never can keep these trains straight in my mind, they change +them so frequently. But it's better than riding in a canvas +wagon over a rough country road, isn't it, Teddy?" + +"Worse," grunted the lad. "You never know when you're going to +get your everlasting bump, and you don't have any net to fall in +when you do. Hey, they're at it again!" + +His words were almost prophetic. + +There followed a sudden jolt, a deafening crash, accompanied by +cries from the cooks and waiters at the far end of the car. + +"Get a net!" howled Teddy. + +"We're off the rails," cried the performers. + +"Look out for yourselves!" + +Little Dimples was hurled from her stool at the lunch counter, +and launched straight toward a window from which the glass was +showering into the car. + +Phil made a spring, catching her in his arms. But the impact +and the jolt were too much for him. He went down in a heap, +Little Dimples falling half over him. + +He made a desperate grab for her, but the woman's skirts +slipped through his hand and she plunged on toward the far end +of the car. + +"Look out for the coffee boiler." + +A yell from a waiter told them that the warning had come +too late. The man had gotten a large part of the contents +of the boiler over him. + +But all at once those in the car began to realize that something +else was occurring. Somehow, they could feel the accommodation +car wavering as if on the brink of a precipice. Then it began to +settle slowly and the mystified performers and car hands thought +it was going to rest where it was on the ties. + +Instead, the car took a sudden lurch. + +"We're going over something!" cried a voice. + +Phil, who had scrambled quickly to his feet, half-dazed from the +fall, stood irresolutely for a few seconds then began making his +way toward where Little Dimples had fallen. + +At that moment young Forrest was hurled with great force against +the side of the car. Everything in the car seemed suddenly to +have become the center of a miniature cyclone. Dishes, cooking +utensils, tables and chairs were flying through the air, the +noise within the car accompanied by a sickening, grinding series +of crashes from without. + +Groans were already distinguishable above the deafening crashes. + +Those who were able to think realized that the accommodation car +was falling over an embankment of some sort. + +Through accident or design, what is known as a "blind switch" had +been turned while the engine was shunting the accommodation car +about the yards. The result was that the car had left the rails, +bumped along on the ties for a distance, then had toppled over an +embankment that was some twenty feet high. + +It seemed as if all in that ill-fated car must be killed or +maimed for life. A series of shrill blasts from the engine +called for help. + +The crash had been heard all over the railroad yards. +Railroad men and circus men had rushed toward the spot where +the accommodation car had gone over the embankment, Mr. Sparling +among the number. He had just arrived at the yards when the +accident occurred. + +Fortunately, the wrecking crew was ready for instant service, +and these men were rushed without an instant's delay to the +outskirts of the yard where the wreck had occurred. + +However, ere the men got there a startling cry rose from hundreds +of throats. + +"Fire! The car is on fire!" + +"Break in the doors! Smash the sides in!" + +Yet no one seemed to have the presence of mind to do anything. +Phil had been hurled through a broken widow, landing halfway down +the bank, on the uphill side of the car, else he must have been +crushed to death. But so thoroughly dazed was he that he was +unable to move. + +Finally someone discovered him and picked him up. + +"Here's one of them," announced a bystander. "It's a kid, too." + +Mr. Sparling came charging down the bank. + +"Who is it? Where is he?" he bellowed. + +"Here." + +"It's Phil Forrest," cried one of the showmen, recognizing the +lad, whose face was streaked where it had been cut by the jagged +glass in the broken window. + +"Is he killed?" + +"No; he's alive. He's coming around now." + +Phil sat up and rubbed his eyes. + +All at once he understood what had happened. He staggered to his +feet holding to a man standing beside him. + +"Why don't you do something?" cried Phil. "Don't you know there +are people in that car?" + +"It's burning up. Nobody dares get in till the wreckers can get +here and smash in the side of the car," was the answer. + +"What?" fairly screamed Phil Forrest. "Nobody dares go in +that car? Somebody does dare!" + +"Come back, come back, Phil! You can't do anything," shouted a +fellow performer. + +But the lad did not even hear him. He was leaping, falling +and rolling down the bank, regardless of the danger that he was +approaching, for the flames already showed through a broken spot +in the roof of the car, which was lying half on its side at the +foot of the embankment. + +Without an instant's hesitation Phil, as he came up alongside, +raised a foot, smashing out the remaining pieces of glass in +a window. Then he plunged in head first. + +The spectators groaned. + +"Dimples! Dimples!" he shouted. "Are you alive?" + +"Yes, here. Be quick! I'm pinned down!" + +Phil rushed to her assistance. Her legs were pinioned beneath +a heavy timber. Phil attacked it desperately, tugging and +grunting, the perspiration rolling down his face, for the heat +in there was now almost more than he could bear. + +With a mighty effort he wrenched the timber from the prostrate +woman, then quickly gathered her up in his arms. + +"I knew you'd come, Phil, if you were alive," she breathed, +her head resting on his shoulder. + +"Do you know where Teddy is?" he asked, plunging through the +blinding smoke to the window where voices already were calling +to him. + +"At the other end--I think," she choked. + +The lad passed her out to waiting arms. + +"Come out! Come out of that!" bellowed the stentorian voice of +Mr. Sparling. But Phil had turned back. + +"Teddy!" he called, the words choked back into his throat by the +suffocating smoke. + +"Wow! Get me out of here. I'm--I'm," then the lad went off into +a violent fit of coughing. + +By this time two others, braver than the rest, had climbed in +through the window. + +"Where are they all?" called a voice. + +"I don't know. You'll have to hunt for them. I'm after you, +Teddy. +Are you held down by something, too?" + +"The whole car's on me, and I'm burning up." + +Phil, guided by the boy's voice, groped his way along and soon +found his hands gripped by those of his little companion. + +"Where are you fast?" + +"My feet!" + +It proved an easy matter to liberate Teddy and drag him to the +window, where Phil dumped him out. + +Mr. Sparling had climbed in by this time, and the wrecking crew +were thundering at the roof to let the smoke and flames out, +while others had crawled in with their fire extinguishers. + +There were now quite a number of brave men in the car all working +with desperate haste to rescue the imprisoned circus people. + +"All out!" bellowed the foreman of the wrecking crew. "The roof +will be down in a minute!" + +"All out!" roared Mr. Sparling, himself making a dash for +a window. + +Others piled out with a rush, the flames gaining very rapid +headway now. + +"Phil! Phil! Where's Forrest?" called Mr. Sparling. + +"He isn't here. Maybe--" + +"Then he's in that car. He'll be burned alive! No one can live +five minutes in there now!" + +The fire department had arrived on the scene, and the men were +running two lines of hose over the tracks. + +"Phil in there?" + +It was a howl--a startled howl rather than a spoken question. +The voice belonged to Teddy Tucker. + +Teddy rushed through the crowd, pushing obstructors aside, +and hurled himself through the window into the burning car. +He looked more like a big, round ball than anything else. + +No sooner had Tucker landed fairly inside than he uttered a yell. + +"Phil!" + +There was no answer. + +"Where--" + +Teddy went down like a flash, bowled over by a heavy stream of +water from the firemen's hose. + +As it chanced he fell prone across a heap of some sort, +choking and growling with rage at what had befallen him. + +"Phil!" + +"Yes," answered a voice from the heap. + +"I've got him!" howled Teddy, springing up and dragging the +half-dazed Phil Forrest to the window. There both boys were +hauled out, Teddy and Phil collapsing on the embankment from +the smoke that they had inhaled. + +"Phil! Teddy!" begged Mr. Sparling, throwing himself +beside them. + +"Get a net!" muttered Teddy, then swooned. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WHAT HAPPENED TO A PACEMAKER + +"Find out how that car came to tumble off," were the first words +Phil uttered after they had restored him to consciousness. + +Teddy, however, was bemoaning the loss of the sandwich that he +had bought but had not eaten. + +"The accident shall be investigated by me personally before +this section leaves the yard," said Mr. Sparling. "I am glad +you suggested it, Phil. How do you feel?" + +"I am all right. Did somebody pull me out?" + +"Yes, Teddy did. You are a pair of brave boys. I guess this +outfit knows now the stuff you two are made of, if it never did +before," glowed Mr. Sparling. + +"How many were killed?" + +"None. The head steward has a broken leg, one waiter a few ribs +smashed in, and another has lost a finger. I reckon the railroad +will have a nice bill of damages to pay for this night's work. +Were you in the car when it occurred?" + +"Yes. They had been handling it rather roughly. We spoke of it +at the time. We were moving down the yard when suddenly one end +seemed to drop right off the track as if we had come to the end +of it." + +Mr. Sparling nodded. + +"I'll go into it with the railroad people at once. You two get +into your berths. Can you walk?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"How about you, Tucker," + +"I can creep all right. I learned to do that when I was in +long pants." + +"I guess you mean long dresses," answered the showman. + +"I guess I do." + +The boys were helped to the sleeper, where they were put to bed. +Phil had been slightly burned on one hand while Teddy got what he +called "a free hair cut," meaning that his hair had been pretty +well singed. Otherwise they were none the worse for their +experiences, save for the slight cuts Phil had received by +coming in contact with broken glass and some burns from the +coffee boiler. + +They were quite ready to go to sleep soon after being put to bed, +neither awakening until they reached the next show town on the +following morning. + +When the two lads pulled themselves up in their berths the sun +was well up, orders having been given not to disturb them. + +"Almost seven o'clock, Teddy," cried Phil. + +"Don't care if it's seventeen o'clock," growled Teddy. +"Lemme sleep." + +"All right, but you will miss your breakfast." + +That word "breakfast" acted almost magically on Tucker. +Instantly he landed in the middle of the aisle on all fours, and, +straightening up, began groping sleepily for his clothes. + +Phil laughed and chuckled. + +"How do you feel, Teddy?" + +"Like a roast pig being served on a platter in the cook tent. +Do you need a net this morning?" + +"No, I think not. I'm rather sore where I got cut, but I guess +I am pretty fit otherwise." + +After washing and dressing the lads set out across the fields +for the lot, which they could see some distance to the west of +the sidings, where their sleepers had been shifted. Both were +hungry, for it is not an easy matter to spoil a boy's appetite. +Railroad wrecks will not do it in every case, nor did they +in this. + +But, before the morning ended, the cook tent had seen more +excitement than in many days--in fact more than at any time so +far that season. + +The moment Phil and Teddy strolled in, each bearing the marks of +the wreck on face and head everybody, except the Legless Man, +stood up. Three rousing cheers and a tiger for the Circus Boys, +were given with a will, and then the lads found themselves the +center of a throng of performers, roustabouts and freaks all of +whom showered their congratulations on the boys for their heroism +in saving other's lives at the risk of their own. + +Little Dimples was not one whit behind the others. She praised +them both, much to Phil's discomfiture and Teddy's pleasure. + +"Teddy, you are a hero after all," she beamed. + +"Me? Me a hero?" he questioned, pointing to himself. + +"Yes, you. I always knew you would be if you had half a chance. +Of course Phil had proved before that he was." + +Teddy threw out his chest, thrusting both hands in his +trousers pockets. + +"Oh, I don't know. It wasn't so much. How'd you get out?" + +"Your friend, Phil, here, is responsible for my not being in the +freak class this morning. There's Mr. Sparling beckoning to you. +I think he wants you both." + +The boys walked over as soon as they could get away from +the others. That morning they sat at the executive table +with the owner of the show, his wife and the members of +Mr. Sparling's staff. + +For once Teddy went through a meal with great dignity, +as befitted one who was in the hero class. + +"What happened to cause the wreck last night?" asked Phil, +turning to his host of the morning at the first opportunity. + +"The car went off over a blind switch that had been opened." + +"By whom?" + +"Ah, that's the question." + +"Perhaps one of the railroad men opened it by mistake," +suggested Teddy. "Nobody else would have a key." + +"You'll find no railroad man made that blunder," replied Phil. + +"No! While the railroad is responsible for the damages, +I hardly think they are for the wreck. No key was used to open +the switch." + +"No key?" + +"No." + +"How, then?" + +"The lock was wrenched off with an iron bar and the switch +wedged fast, so there could be no doubt about what would happen. +It might have happened to some other car not belonging to us, +though it was a pretty safe gamble that it would catch one +of ours." + +"I thought as much," nodded Phil. "But perhaps its just as +well." + +"What do you mean by that?" questioned the showman sharply. + +"That the railroad folks will do what the police are too lazy +to do." + +"What?" + +"Get after the fellow who did it," suggested Phil wisely. + +"That's so! That's so! I hadn't thought of it in that +light before. You've got a long head, my boy. You always +have had, for that matter as long as I have known you, so it +stands to reason that you must always have been that way." + +Teddy, having finished his breakfast, excused himself and +strolled off to another part of the tent where he might find +more excitement. He sat down in his own place near the freak +table and began talking shop with some of the performers, while +Phil and Mr. Sparling continued their conversation. + +"I haven't given up hopes of catching him myself, Mr. Sparling." + +"You came pretty close to it Saturday night." + +"And I wasn't so far from it last night either," laughed the boy. +"Going to be able to save the accommodation car?" + +"No, it's a hopeless wreck." + +"You probably will not put on another this season then?" + +"What would you suggest?" + +"I should not think it would be advisable. Most of the people go +downtown, anyway, to get their lunch after the show." + +"Exactly. That's the way it appeared to me, but I wanted to get +your point of view." It was not that the owner had not made up +his mind, but that he wanted to get Phil Forrest's mind working +from the point of view of the manager and owner of a circus, +seeing in Phil, as he did, the making of a future great showman. + +All at once their conversation was disturbed by a great uproar at +the further end of the tent, near where Teddy sat. + +Two midgets, arguing the question as to which of them was the +Smallest Man in the World, had become so heated that they fell to +pummeling each other with their tiny fists. + +Instantly the tent was in confusion, and with one accord +the performers and freaks gathered around to watch the +miniature battle. + +A waiter in his excitement, stepped in a woodchuck hole, spilling +a bowl of steaming hot soup down the Fat Woman's neck. + +"Help! Help! I'm on fire!" she shrieked. + +Teddy, now that he had become a hero, felt called upon to hurry +to the rescue. Seizing a pitcher of ice water, he leaped over a +bench and dumped the contents of the pitcher over the head of the +Fattest Woman on Earth. Several chunks of ice, along with a +liberal quantity of the water, slid down her neck. + +This was more than human flesh could stand. The Fat Woman +staggered to her feet uttering a series of screams that might +have been heard all over the lot, while those on the outside +came rushing in to assist in what they believed to be a +serious disturbance. + +Mr. Sparling pushed his way through the crowd, roaring out +command after command, but somehow, the ring about the Fat Woman +and the fighting midgets did not give way readily. The show +people were too much engrossed in the funny spectacle of the +midgets to wish to be disturbed. + +Not so Teddy Tucker. + +Having quenched the fire that was consuming the Fat Woman, +he pushed his way through the crowd, with the stern command, +"Stand aside here!" and fell upon the Lilliputian gladiators. + +"Break away!" roared Teddy, grasping each by the collar and +giving him a violent tug. + +What was his surprise when both the little men suddenly turned +upon him and started pushing and beating him. + +Taken unawares, Teddy began to back up, to the accompaniment of +the jeers of the spectators. + +The crowd howled its appreciation of the turn affairs had taken, +Teddy steadily giving ground before the enraged Lilliputians. + +As it chanced a washtub filled with pink lemonade that had been +prepared for the thirsty crowds stood directly in the lad's path. +If anyone observed it, he did not so inform Teddy. + +All at once the Circus Boy sat down in the tub of pink lemonade +with a loud splash, pink fluid spurting up in a veritable +fountain over such parts of him as were not already in the tub. + +Teddy howled for help, while the show people shrieked with +delight, the lad in his efforts to get out of the tub, falling +back each time, until finally rescued from his uncomfortable +position by the owner of the show himself. + +"That's what you get for meddling with other peoples' affairs," +chided Phil, laughing immoderately as he observed the rueful +countenance of his friend. + +"If I hadn't meddled with you last night, you'd have been a dead +one today," retorted the lad. "Anyway, I've made a loud splash +this morning." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SEARCHING THE TRAIN + +Salt Lake City proved an unusual attraction to the Circus Boys, +they having read so much of it in story and textbooks. + +Here they visited the great Mormon Temple. During their two day +stand they made a trip out to the Great Salt Lake where Teddy +Tucker insisted in going in swimming. His surprise was great +when he found that he could not swim at all in the thick, +salty water. + +The trip over the mountains, through the wonderful scenery of the +Rockies and the deep canyons where the sunlight seldom reaches +was one of unending interest to them. + +Most of the show people had been over this same ground with other +circuses many times before, for there are few corners of the +civilized world that the seasoned showman has not visited at +least once in his life. + +It was all new to the Circus Boys, however, and in the long day +trips over mountain and plain, they found themselves fully +occupied with the new, entrancing scenes. + +By this time both lads had become really finished performers in +their various acts, and they had gone on through the greater part +of the season without serious accident in their work. Of course +they had had tumbles, as all showmen do, but somehow they managed +to come off with whole skins. + +For a time after the wreck of the accommodation car the show had +no further trouble that could be laid at the door of Red Larry +or his partner. However, after a few days, the reports of +burglaries in towns where the show exhibited became even +more numerous. + +"We can't furnish police protection to the places we visit," +answered Mr. Sparling, when spoken to about this. "But, if ever +I get my hands on that red head, the fur will fly!" + +Passing out of the state of Utah, a few stands were made in +Nevada, but the jumps were now long and it was all the circus +trains could do to get from stand to stand in time. As it was, +they were not always able to give the parade, but the manager +made up for this by getting up a free show out in front of the +big top just before the afternoon and evening performances began. + +Reno was the last town played in Nevada, and everyone breathed a +sigh of relief as the tents were struck and the show moved across +the line into California. The difficulty of getting water for +man and beast had proved a most serious one. At Reno, however, +a most serious thing had occurred, one that disturbed the owner +of the show very greatly. + +Many of the guy ropes holding the big top, had been cut while the +performance was going on and most of the canvasmen and laborers +were engaged in taking down and loading the menagerie outfit. + +A wind storm was coming up, but fortunately it veered off before +reaching Reno. The severed ropes were not discovered until after +the show was over and the tent was being struck. Mr. Sparling +had been quickly summoned. After a careful examination of the +ropes he understood what had happened. Phil, too, had discovered +one cut rope and the others, on his way from the dressing tent to +the front, after finishing his performance. + +But there was nothing now that required his looking up +Mr. Sparling, in view of the fact that the canvas was already +coming down. Yet after getting his usual night lunch in the +town, the lad strolled over to the railroad yards intending to +visit the manager as soon as the latter should have returned +from the lot. + +The two met just outside the owner's private car, a short time +after the loading had been completed. + +"Oh, I want to see you, Mr. Sparling, if you have the time." + +"I've always time for that. I was in hopes I would get a +chance to have a chat with you before we got started. Will you +come in?" + +"Yes, thank you." + +Entering the private car Mr. Sparling took off his coat and threw +himself into a chair in front of his roll-top desk. + +"Phil, there's deviltry going on in this outfit again," he said +fixing a stern eye on the little Circus Boy. + +Phil nodded. + +"You don't seem to be very much surprised." + +"I'm not. I think I know what you mean." + +"You do? What for instance?" + +"The cutting of those ropes tonight," smiled Phil. + +"You know that?" + +The lad nodded again, but this time with more emphasis. + +"Is there anything that goes on in this outfit that you do not +know about?" + +"Oh, I presume so. If I hadn't chanced to walk over a place +where there should have been a guy rope I probably never should +have discovered what had been done." + +"I'll bet you would," answered the owner, gazing at the +lad admiringly. + +"It is fortunate for us that we did not have a wind storm during +the evening." + +"Fortunate for the audience, I should say. Nothing could have +held the tent with those ropes gone. It showed that the cordage +had been cut by someone very familiar with the canvas. Almost a +breath of wind would have caused the whole big top to collapse, +and then a lot of people might have been killed. Well, the +season is almost at an end now. If we are lucky we shall soon be +out of it." + +"All the more reason for getting the fellow at once," +nodded Phil. + +"Why?" + +"After a few days we shall be closing, and then we shall not get +an opportunity." + +"That's good logic. I agree with you. I shall be delighted +to place these hands of mine right on that fiend's throat. +But first, will you tell me how I am going to do it? +Haven't we been trying to catch him ever since those two +men were discharged? Both of them are in this thing." + +"I think you will find that there is only one now. I believe +Larry is working alone. I haven't any particular reason for +thinking this; it just sort of seems to me to be so." + +"Any suggestions, Phil? I'll confess that I am at my wits' end." + +"Yes, I have been thinking of a plan lately." + +"What is it?" + +"Have the trains searched." + +"What?" + +"You will remember my saying, sometime ago, that I believed the +fellow was still traveling with us and--" + +"But how--where could he ride that he would not be sure +of discovery?" protested Mr. Sparling. + +"He has friends with the show, that's how," answered +Phil convincingly. + +"You amaze me." + +"All the same, I believe you will find that to be the case." + +"And you would suggest searching the trains?" + +"Yes." + +"When?" + +"Now. No; I don't mean at this very minute. I should suggest +that tomorrow morning, say at daybreak, you send men over this +entire train. Don't let them miss a single corner where a man +might hide." + +"Yes; but this isn't the only train in the show." + +"I know. At the first stop, or you might do it here before +we start, wire ahead to your other train managers to do the +same thing. Tell them who it is you suspect. You'll be able to +catch the squadron before they get in, though I do not believe +our man will be found anywhere on that train." + +"Why not?" + +"The squadron went out before the guy ropes were cut." + +"Great head! Great head, Phil Forrest," glowed the manager. +"You're a bigger man than I am any day in the week. +Then, according to your reasoning, the fellow ought either +to be on this section or the one just ahead of it?" + +"Yes. But don't laugh at me if I don't happen to be right. +It's just an idea I have gotten into my head." + +"I most certainly shall not laugh, my boy. I am almost +convinced that you are right. At least, the plan is well worth +carrying out. I'll give the orders to the train managers before +we start." + +"I would suggest that you tell them not to give the orders to the +men until ready to begin the search in the morning." + +"Good! Fine!" glowed the showman. + +"I'm going to turn out and help search this section myself," +said Phil. "You know I have some interest in it, seeing that +it is my plan," he smiled. + +"Better keep out of it," advised Mr. Sparling. "You might fall +off from the cars. You are not used to walking over the tops +of them." + +"Oh, yes I am. I have done it a number of times this season just +to help me to steady my nerves. I can walk a swaying box car in +a gale of wind and not get dizzy." + +Mr. Sparling held up his hands protestingly. + +"Don't tell me any more. I believe you. If you told me you +could run the engine I'd believe you. If there be anything you +don't know how to do, or at least know something about, I should +be glad to know what that something is." + +"May I send your messages?" asked the lad. "If you will write +them now I'll take them over to the station. It must be nearly +starting time." + +"Yes; it is. No; I'll call one of the men." + +Mr. Sparling threw up his desk and rapidly scribbled his +directions to the train managers ahead. After that he sent +forward for the manager of their particular section, to whom he +confided Phil Forrest's plan, the lad taking part in the +discussion that followed. The train manager laughed at the idea +that anyone could steal a ride on his train persistently without +being detected. + +Mr. Sparling very emphatically told the manager that what he +thought about it played no part in the matter at all. He was +expected to make a thorough search of the train." + +"His search won't amount to anything" thought Phil shrewdly. +"I'll do the searching for this section and I'll find the fellow +if he is on board. I hope I shall. I owe Red Larry something, +and I'm anxious to pay the debt." + +The train soon started, Phil bidding his employer good night, +went forward to No. 1 which was the forward sleeper on the train, +next to the box and flat cars. He peered into Teddy Tucker's +berth, finding that lad sound asleep, after which he tumbled into +his own bed. + +But Phil was restless. He was so afraid that he would oversleep +that he slept very little during the night. + +At the first streak of dawn he tumbled quietly from his berth, +and, putting on his clothes, stepped out to the front platform, +where he took a long breath of the fresh morning air. + +The train was climbing a long grade in the Sierra Nevadas and the +car couplings were groaning under the weight put upon them. + +Phil climbed to the top of the big stock car just ahead of him, +and sat down on the brake wheel. + +Far ahead he saw several men going over the cars. + +"They have not only begun the search but they are almost +through," muttered Phil. "As I thought, they are not half +doing it. I guess I'll take a hand." + +Phil stood up, caught his balance and began walking steadily +over the top of the swaying car. At the other end of the car he +opened the trap door which was used to push hay through for the +animals, examining its interior carefully. There was no sign of +a stranger inside, nor did he expect to find any there. + +"He'll be in a place less likely to be looked into," muttered the +lad starting on again and jumping down to a flat car just ahead. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CONCLUSION + +"There's somebody climbing over the train," called one of the +searchers to the train manager. + +All hands turned, gazing off toward Phil. He swung his hands +toward them, whereat they recognized the lad and went on about +their work. + +"Wonder they saw even me!" grumbled the lad, moving slowly along. +It seemed almost impossible that one could hide on a train +like that. Here and there men were sleeping under the wagons, +and Phil made it his business to get a look into the face of +each of them. Not a man did he find who bore the slightest +resemblance to Red Larry or Bad Eye. + +"It doesn't look very promising, I must say," he muttered, +jumping lightly from one flat car to another. + +Phil had searched faithfully until finally he reached a "flat" +just behind that on which stood the great gilded band wagon. +Now, under its covering of heavy canvas, none of its gaudy +trimmings were to be seen. + +Phil sat down on the low projection at the side of the flat car, +eyeing the band wagon suspiciously. + +Somehow he could not rid himself of the impression that that +wagon would bear scrutiny. + +"I'll bet they never looked into it. Last year when we were a +road show, I remember how the men used to sleep in there and how +Teddy got thrown out when he walked on somebody's face," and Phil +laughed softly at the memory. "I'm going to climb up there." + +To do this was not an easy matter, for the band wagon seemed to +loom above him like a tent. The canvas stretched over it, +extending clear down to the wheels, to which it was secured +by ropes. The only way the Circus Boy could get up into the +wagon seemed to be to crawl under the canvas at the bottom and +gradually to work his way up. + +"I'm going to try it," he decided all at once. "Of course +they didn't look into it. Maybe they are afraid they will +find someone. Well, here goes! If I fall off that will be the +last of me, but I am not going to fall. I ought to be able to +climb by this time if I'm ever going to." + +Phil got up promptly, glanced toward the long train that was +winding its way up the steep mountain, then stepped across +the intervening space between the two cars. He wasted no time, +but immediately lifted the canvas and peered along the side of +the wagon. + +He discovered that he would have to go to the forward end of it +in order to reach the top, because the steps were at that end. +There the canvas was drawn tighter, so the lad untied one of the +ropes, leaving one corner of the covering flapping in the breeze. + +Cautiously and quietly he began climbing up, the wagon swaying +dizzily with the motion of the train, making it more and more +difficult to cling to it as he got nearer the top. The air was +close, and soon after the boy began going up, the sun beat down +on the canvas cover suffocatingly. + +Now he had reached the top. High seats intervened between him +and the other end, so that he could not see far ahead of him. +Phil dropped down into the wagon and began creeping toward +the rear. + +He stumbled over some properties that had been stowed in the +wagon, making a great clatter. Instantly there was a commotion +in the other end of the car. + +Phil scrambled up quickly and crawled over the high seat ahead +of him. As he did so he uttered an exclamation. The red head of +Red Larry could be seen, his beady eyes peering over the back of +a seat. + +"I've got you this time, Red!" exulted Phil, clambering over the +seat in such a hurry that he fell in a heap on the other side +of it. + +The lad seemed to have no sense that he was placing himself in +grave peril. He had no fear in his makeup, and his every nerve +was centered on capturing the desperate, revengeful man who had +not only assaulted Phil, but who had caused so much damage to the +Sparling Shows. + +"Don't you dare come near me, you young cub!" threatened Red, +as with rage-distorted face he suddenly whipped out a knife. + +Phil picked up a club and started toward him. The club happened +to be a tent stake. Red observed the action, and crouching low +waited as the lad approached him. + +"I'm going to get you, Red! I'm not afraid of your knife. +You can't touch me with it because before you get the chance +I'm going to slam you over the head with this tent stake," +grinned Phil Forrest. + +Red snarled and showed his teeth. + +"Oh, you needn't think you can get away. The men are hunting for +you further up the train. They'll be along here in a minute, and +then I reckon you'll be tied up and dumped into the lion cage, +though I don't think even a lion would eat such a mean hound as +you are." + +Suddenly the man straightened up. Now, he held something in his +hand besides the knife. It was a stake. + +Red drew back his arm, hurling the heavy stick straight at his +young adversary's head. Phil, observing the movement let +drive his own tent stake, but having to throw so hurriedly, his +aim was poor. Red Larry's aim, on the other hand was better. +Phil dodged like a flash. + +Had he not done so the stake would have struck him squarely in +the face. As it was the missile grazed the side of his head, +causing the lad to fall in a heap. + +Red Larry hesitated only for a second, then leaping to the high +rear seat of the wagon drew his knife along the canvas above him, +opening a great slit in it. Through the opening thus made he +peered cautiously. What he saw evidently convinced him of the +truth of what Phil had just said. Up toward the head of the +train the searchers were at work, and from what Red had heard he +realized they were looking for him. + +Red did not delay a second. He scrambled out through the canvas +just as Phil pulled himself to his feet. The lad could see the +fellow's legs dangling through the canvas. + +Phil uttered a yell, hurling himself wildly over the high-backed +seats in an effort to catch and hold the legs ere Red could +get out. But Larry heard him coming, and quickly clambered down +the back of the wagon to the deck of the flat car. + +Phil once more grabbed up his own tent stake as he stumbled back +through the wagon. + +"I've got you!" yelled the boy as he pulled himself up through +the opening, observing Red standing hesitatingly on the flat car +with a frightened look in his eyes. + +"Hi! Hi!" cried Phil, turning and gesticulating wildly at the +men further up the train "I've got him! Hurry! I--" + +Something sang by his head and dropped quivering in the canvas +beyond him. It was the discharged tentman's knife which he had +aimed at Phil, his aim having been destroyed by a lurch of the +car, thus saving the Circus Boy's life. + +"Want to kill me, do you? I've got you now! The men are coming. +Don't you dare move or I'll drop this stake on you. I can't miss +you this time." + +Red after one hesitating glance, faced the front and leaped from +the train down the long, sloping cinder-covered bank. + +Phil let drive his tent stake. It caught Red on the shoulder, +bowling the rascal over like a nine pin. + +Phil Forrest uttered a yell of exultation, suddenly dropping to +the floor of the car at the imminent risk of his life. + +The men were now piling over the cars in his direction. He did +not know whether they had seen Red jump or not. Phil did not +waste any time in idle speculation. + +"Come on!" he shouted, springing to the edge of the car, +keeping himself from falling by grasping a wheel of the wagon. + +Then Phil Forrest did a daring thing. Crouching low, +choosing his time unerringly, he jumped from the train. +Fortunately for him, the cars were running slowly up the +heavy grade. But, slowly as they were going, the lad turned +several rapid handsprings after having struck the ground, +coming to a stop halfway down the slope, somewhat dazed +from the shock and sudden whirling about. + +But he was on his feet in a twinkling, and running toward the +spot where Red was painfully picking himself up. Phil slipped +and stumbled as the cinders gave way beneath his feet but ran +on with a grim determination not to let his man escape him +this time. + +Both were now weaponless, so far as the lad knew. Red had +possessed a revolver, but in his sudden jump from the train he +had lost it, and there was now no time to look for it. + +When he saw Phil pursuing, Larry started on a run, but the lad, +much more fleet of foot, rapidly overhauled him, despite the +handicap that Phil had at the start. + +"You may as well give up! I'm going to catch you, if I have to +run all the way across the Sierra Nevada Range," shouted Phil. + +Red halted suddenly. Phil thought he was going to wait for him, +but the lad did not slacken his speed a bit because of that. + +All at once, as Phil drew near, Red picked up a stone and hurled +it at his pursuer. Phil saw it coming in time to "duck," and it +was well he did so, for Larry's aim was good. + +"He must have been a baseball pitcher at sometime," grinned +the lad. However, the fellow continued to throw until Phil saw +that he must do something to defend himself else he would surely +be hit and perhaps put out of the race altogether. + +"So that's your game is it?" shouted the boy. "I can +play ball, too." + +With that the lad coolly began hunting about for stones, of which +he gathered up quite an armful, choosing those that were most +nearly round. In the meantime Red had kept up his bombardment, +Phil dodging the stones skillfully. Then he too, began to throw, +gradually drawing nearer and nearer to his adversary. + +A small stone caught Phil a glancing blow on the left shoulder +causing him to drop his ammunition. He could scarcely repress a +cry, for the blow hurt him terribly. He wondered if his shoulder +had not been broken, but fortunately he had received only a +severe bruise. + +It served, however, to stir Phil to renewed activity. +Grabbing all the stones he could gather in one sweep of his +hands he started on a run toward Red Larry, letting one drive +with every jump. They showered around the desperate man like a +rain of hail. + +All at once Larry uttered a yell of pain and anger. One of +Phil's missiles had landed in the pit of the fellow's stomach. +Larry doubled up like a jacknife, and, dropping suddenly, rolled +rapidly toward the foot of the slope. + +Phil, still clinging to his weapons, ran as fast as his slender +legs would carry him in pursuit of his man. + +"I hit him! I hit him!" he yelled. + +In a moment he came up with Larry, but the lad prudently stopped +a rod from his adversary to make sure that the fellow was not +playing him a trick. One glance sufficed to tell Phil that the +man had really been hit. + +"I hope he isn't much hurt, but I'm not going to take any +chances." + +Phil jerked off his coat and began ripping it up, regardless of +the fact that it was his best. With the strands thus secured, he +approached his prisoner cautiously, then suddenly jumped on him. + +Larry was not able to give more than momentary resistance. +Inside of three minutes Phil had the fellow's hands tied securely +behind his back. Gathering the stones about him in case of need, +the lad sat down and wiped the perspiration from his brow. + +"I guess that about puts an end to your tricks, my fine fellow," +announced Phil. + +The train had been finally stopped, and a force of men now dashed +back along the tracks. They had been in time to view the last +half of the battle of the stones, and when Red went down they set +up a loud triumphant yell. In a few minutes they had reached the +scene and had taken the prisoner in tow. + +The train was at the top of the grade waiting, so the show people +and their captive were obliged to walk fully a mile to reach it. +Mr. Sparling, attracted by the uproar, had rushed from his +private car. He now met the party a little way down the tracks. + +"I got him!" cried Phil, when he saw the owner approaching. + +Red was carried to the next stop on the circus train. He was +not much hurt and had fully recovered before noon of that day, +much to Phil's relief, for he felt very badly that he had been +obliged to resort to stone throwing. The lad would have +preferred to use his fists. But, as the result of the capture, +Red Larry was put where he would bother circus trains no more for +some years. He was sentenced to a long term in prison. + +The Great Sparling Shows moved on, playing in a few more +towns, and, one beautiful morning drew up at the city by the +Golden Gate. There the circus remained for a week, when the show +closed for the season. But the lads were a long way from home, +toward which they now looked longingly. + +Mr. Sparling invited them to return with him in his private car +which was to cross the continent attached to regular passenger +trains, the show proper following at its leisure. + +This invitation both boys accepted gladly, and during the trip +there were many long discussions between the three as to the +future of the Circus Boys. They had worked hard during the +season and had won new laurels on the tanbark. But they had not +yet reached the pinnacle of their success in the canvas-covered +arena, though each had saved, as the result of his season's work, +nearly twelve hundred dollars. + +Phil and Teddy will be heard from again in a following volume +entitled: "THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the +Plaudits of the Sunny South." Here they are destined to meet +with some of the pleasantest as well as the most thrilling +experiences of their circus career, in which both have many +opportunities to show their grit and resourcefulness. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Circus Boys Across The +Continent Or Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark. + diff --git a/2475.zip b/2475.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..66f0bc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/2475.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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